Plea of a Belgian

To the future leader of my home country.

I am a Belgian living abroad. For months and months I have followed the political shenanigans happening in our gorgeous country from a side line. I know I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to the discussions about state reform and language politics. What I do know is that I would like my country to still exist in a few years. And for some reason, I have never felt this pessimistic about that prognosis ever.

I don't feel like I'm Flemish (although I suppose I am), I am a Belgian. Ok, my french is not as good as I would like it to be and I have not been to too many Walloon places in my life, but I don't think I would be better off without that part of Belgium. I speak dutch with my family and my friends back home, but speaking that language doesn't mean that I want only Flemish statesmen to decide on laws, legislation etc for me.
My culture is one of "moules et frites", great beer, not so great football, hard work, enjoying the good things in life, being (sometimes a bit falsely) modest, appreciating good food and nice clothes, putting family first, joining a sports team linked to a local cafe,... If I'm not mistaken, that is something I share with all Belgians, not just the Flemish. So I don't want to hear the argument anymore that my language makes my culture. I'm much more like my Walloon neighbor than like my Neighbor in Maastricht on any day!

So many important things are happening in our country and the world today that I beg you to focus on those things first. A crisis in our economy, the problems in Europe with the Irish no, the environmental problems, the Olympics (!)... All this talk about a reform of the state has brought local politics to a place where people don't care anymore. A dangerous place, because then only the radical and extreme voices remain present.

I understand that there are some things that need sorting out in Brussels, but is that really the most important thing right now? If the politics of compromise doesn't work anymore in the extreme Belgian form, why are we talking about giving the regions even more responsibilities? Shouldn't we also look at the alternative? What if we would give the responsibility back to the federal government. No more compromise on everything, no more "a Euro here, then also a Euro there", but a sensible government with as a goal to manage a country and not several regions? I'm sure that our country with its great education, has produced intelligent, smart people in Belgium that could actually rule our nation with the best interest of the whole country in mind. Or is that too much of a Utopia?

Anyway, I hope that when you do take up the challenge of ruling this fine little place, you will keep in mind that there are people out there who care a lot about Belgium. Although some have argued that it's a natural occurrence, that if you look at the history of countries cobbled together by European powers they inevitably break down. Know that it would break my (and hopefully many other) heart(s) to see it go.

Comments

[Bart Vyvey]

Amen to that!

[Michael]

I agree with you 100%, but there's one problem: the Belgian court has ruled that BHV has to be split in order to organise new elections. So: new elections are out of the question and it's quite obvious that our chosen ministers and other stakeholders haven't got a solution in mind.
If you know a solution for this puzzle, I'll gladly hear it.

[Guy]

Verkiezingen zijn wel mogelijk, als het parlement achteraf besluit dat deze wettelijk waren. Bovendien, als je de kieskring eindelijk eens federaal maakt is het probleem BHV vanzelf opgelost.

[Nicodemus]

@Michael: the solution to the puzzle is that there is no puzzle. A court can't prohibit the parliament to organize elections, if it would do so, it is an unconstitutional ruling. In short, parliament has the ability to call for elections and to declare the results as legal. No court can stop that. Ever. Parliament (aka the people) have the last word. Always :-)

[Bruno De Wolf]

"All this talk about a reform of the state has brought local politics to a place where people don't care anymore. A dangerous place, because then only the radical and extreme voices remain present."

That's a strange way of thinking! Isn't politics about how we organize our very society? Isn't this a tremendous opportunity for people to read the law themselves and try to see what should be changed or not? Can't people have an opinion (and respectfully disagree) on whether e.g. taxes or unemployment policy should be decided on city, region, country or European level? Though I can't judge objectively, I doubt that people in Belgium care less about politics than e.g. in England. You're right though on the fact that there is too much extremism, but I'm not convinced this is caused by the recent discussion on state reform. As I already said, people should be able to discuss, disagree and find a compromise on the organization of the state without calling each other 'traitor', 'fascist' or whatever. The increase in radicalism is something else: it is not new and at least emerging since early '90s, and it's taking place in other European countries as well. I doubt (another point where I respectfully disagree) that people in Belgium will find a cure for it.

[Claudia]

@ Bruno de Wolf: I wish you were right. Unfortunately many peoepl consider it a "ver van mijn bed-show" now. Which is a real shame.

[shamrockske]

"If the politics of compromise doesn't work anymore in the extreme Belgian form, why are we talking about giving the regions even more responsibilities?"

Girl, you've nailed it here !!

[Bert]

"If the politics of compromise doesn't work anymore in the extreme Belgian form, why are we talking about giving the regions even more responsibilities?"

Net omdat er op Belgisch niveau geen compromis meer mogelijk is, wordt meer onafhankelijkheid noodzakelijk voor de verschillende gemeenschappen van dit landje.

Alles op federaal niveau brengen en hopen dat dat een oplossing kan bieden, is dwalen. Het is net omdat we nu al veel bevoegdheden naar de deelstaten hebben gebracht, dat België kan blijven functioneren, ondanks de onoverbrugbare meningsverschillen tussen Vlamingen en Franstaligen. We kunnen alleen nog maar samenleven in een verstandshuwelijk waarbij we elkaar zo vrij mogelijk laten.

Uw argumenten pro België zijn zo betekenisloos dat ik het aan een psycholoog overlaat om uw gehechtheid aan België te analyseren. Of neemt u in het bedrijfsleven ook beslissingen op drijfzand? Uw cultuur is er één van (Hollandse) mosselen en (French) frieten? En er zijn belangrijker problemen zoals ... the Olympics???

[claudia]

@ bert: Ik weet dat u het niet eens met mij bent, dat had u al eerder meegedeeld. En ja, ik vind de olympics in Peking een belangrijke gebeurtenis. En french fries is een afkorting voor frenched and fried potatoes. Frenched betekent in de lengte gesneden en heeft niets met frankrijk te maken. U hoeft het niet eens te zijn met mij, maar moet dat op een zo arrogante manier?

[Philippe]

lol leve politiek

[Flamand]

Geeeeeeuw.