Impasse at the heart of Europe as Belgium fails to form coalition

THE depths to which politicians can sink are on view at the heart of Europe — in Belgium.

Now eight months, or 217 days without a government, the leaders of the political parties play games with attempts to form a coalition to manage the federal state.

The long-suffering Belgians are making what are in reality feeble attempts to chide their politicians. They range from a call to men to stop shaving, to registering on a website giving the politicians three months to get their act together or pay back their salaries.

Students under the banner ‘Shame’ are organising a public march through Brussels next Sunday.

In 2007 during a similar situation, the king asked his subjects to fly the national flag from their homes. The flags are still to be seen here and there, washed-out and limp in the rain.

The impasse is because the country, which was created by the British mainly as a buffer after the defeat of Napoleon, is composed of a Dutch- speaking north and a French-speaking south. The former French elite didn’t treat the Dutch so well, including not recognising their language for education or jobs.

The shoe is on the other foot now, with the Dutch the more prosperous but also on the offensive, annoyed that their money is going to shore up the poorer French-speakers. They would prefer the divided country to “go Dutch” with each paying for itself.

Moves over the years towards greater autonomy have resulted in five governments — one for the Flems who are Dutch speakers, one for the French region, one for the small German-speaking area, one for the capital Brussels and the federal government.

The country has not ground to a halt because the regional governments are working as normal. But the federal government deals with the overall finances of the country, and with rating agencies and market speculators preparing to take aim last week, the king asked the caretaker government to prepare an austerity budget.

The markets were perturbed when the latest attempt to form a coalition, organised by former Flemish Socialist politician Johan Vande Lanotte, foundered. Five parties, including all the French speakers, accepted his plan for a coalition and a resolution to ongoing rows over some of Brussels suburbs, but the two main Flemish parties refused to agree.

They are the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) that won most votes in last June’s election in the Flemish area and its former government coalition partner, the Christian Democrat CD&V, from whom they took a lot of votes.

Acting prime minister Yves Leterme heads up the CD&V. While he was a strong advocate of splitting the country, it appears that his N-VA counterpart Bart De Wever has decided Leterme’s mistake was to become part of the status quo by becoming the prime minister.

He does not want to make the same mistake and prefers to manipulate from the sidelines.

Despite much of the negotiation centring on the idea that the country should split into two, a recent poll showed only a small minority even in Flanders support this. It has been mainly a device by politicians to create a platform from which they can whip up public feeling and benefit themselves. Many believe they would split the country if both sides could agree on Brussels, the golden egg that is mainly French-speaking but geographically in Flanders.

Rows about some of the nominally Dutch-speaking suburbs are fuelling the situation as the Flems resist the increasing number of French speakers.