"Bye Bye Belgium" was the title (awarded after the TV "news special") of what became known as the "canular," or practical joke, to beat all canulars: announcing the breakup of Belgium. The main French-language nightly news on RTBF - although it had a text banner at the bottom of the screen announcing, in good Magritte fashion, "This is a fiction" - presented a somewhat credible "breaking news" program about the end of this fine little country.
The bit about the King flying to the old Belgian colony of The Congo for political asylum should have given it away, but for a while it was Orson Welles' panic-inducing "War of the Worlds" all over again. When the excitement subsided, RTBF was condemned in political circles for stirring up (latent?...hardly) Flemish-Walloon rivalries. RTBF and others defended their action, saying that the idea was to open Belgians' eyes to the very real separatist aspirations of certain elements in the Flemish political class.
Well, now we are at Day 186 of non-government (actually, the old pre-June election government is taking care of running the business of government, but cannot initiate new programs). And why? I think any fair minded person, Belgian or foreign observer, would have to admit that it is because of those same separatist or "community" issues that prompted RTBF's program. Polls regularly show great majorities of Belgians (including majorities of the Dutch=speaking Flemish community, itself the largest segment of the population) favoring the existence of a country called Belgium. So what's the problem?
Flemish politicians interpret "Belgium" differently than Francophone (Brussels and Wallonia, the poorer southern region) politicians. In Flanders, Belgium is largely seen as a burden, a holdover from the days when Wallonia was industrial, wealthy, and imposed its French language in government and society. A "burden" since the country's large national debt is in some part due to the transfers to the rust-belt South, which is only now beginning to enter the post-industrial era. But Belgium has its capital in Brussels, which is also the capital of the Flanders regional government. Brussels, headquarters to the EU, NATO, and other international organizations, is often denigrated by the Flemish for its high unemployment, large North African immigrant community, and rampant use of French (and English, and Polish... it is a truly polyglot city). But this little (Brussels is only about a million people) island of cosmopolitan Europe is a prize that any eventual institutional reform (not to speak of country-splitting) will have to contend with.
My pet peeve in all this - along with a certain attachment to the country where we have lived for more than nine years all told - is the cavalier attitude of the political class to the economic and "image" impact that this is having on "Brand Belgium." My concern - as a foreign resident and property owner here - is more with "Brand Brussels," which, as I have mentioned before, is a major asset to this country. My fears have been confirmed recently by that bellwether industry - real estate agents. Last week "Le Soir" reported on the woes of real estate agencies on the normally buoyant, leafy, wealthy outskirts of Brussels - the very epicenter of the linguistic to-ing and fro-ing of the debate over who gets to rule the increasingly Francophone suburbs of Brussels, which happen to be on Flemish territory. In these "communes a facilites," (basically municipalities where residents can conduct administrative business with their town hall in either Dutch or French), house sales have plummeted by 50% in recent months. The rise of mortgage interest rates and the sub-prime crisis in the US have had their ripple effect, but the professionals are categoric: "The Belgian political crisis has only made it worse."
"Bye Bye" (my little photo montage, actually a smart Brussels program to get you to trade in your car - and symbolically shred its license plate - in exchange for free public transport)... I had originally thought to use this a couple of weeks ago, when the erstwhile, putative, "formateur" Yves Leterme threw in the towel on 6 months of fruitless negotiations to form a government. Then he reappeared a few days later acting as if he could try again, this time with a completely different (ideological) spectrum of parties. In the meantime, the King has charged current (lame duck, caretaker) Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt with forming a coalition. Verhofstadt, a Fleming who has the confidence of the Francophones, probably has a much better chance of pulling off a wide coalition.
If you're still confused by this latest turn in Belgian politics, which makes Gerrymander sound like the
utmost in political clarity, then you are a candidate for "Belgian Politics for Dummies," or at least the French language equivalent, "La Crise Expliquee Aux Nuls," from "Le Soir." Credit to "LeSoir's" wonderful political cartoonist Kroll for his accompanying sketch, which shows King Albert showing up for a briefing, asking "Do you mind if I listen in? There are days when..." Warning: even reading "Nuls" won't bring you up to speed: it came out ten days ago, an eternity in Belgian politics.