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Lalibre.be - Ce que la N-VA met sur la table de Di Rupo
The elections that took place in mid-June have shown the widening gap between Wallonia (where socialists are the major political force) and Flanders (where the N-VA, right-wing nationalists, got an overwhelming victory).
So, the two major parties, which have to lead the negociations in order to find a coalition (and form the future government), are totally opposed on most issues: Walloons want a status-quo (= to keep a federal state where regions have a large autonomy) while Flemish (who are more numerous than the Walloons) want much more autonomy.
Since leaks in the medias had ruined the 2007 negociations (it took 8 months to form a government, and the government fell several times), and since these negociations are even more difficult (this time an openly independentist party is, by far, the largest party in Belgium), the negociators have been very careful and the negociations were secret.
However, the negociations seem to be in a deadlock and some exasperated negociator have leaked some informations in the medias. It looks like the Flemish nationalists are keeping an hard-line, refusing to make concessions.
For example, this party, whose program wants to abolish the monarchy, to merge the Belgian and the Dutch army, and whose long-term goal is the end of Belgium, wants:
- to regionalise all the powers of the ministry of internal affairs: control over elections, the police, the justice...
- to regionalise the passports, ID cards, driving licences...all these things won't be Belgian anymore, we'll have Walloon or Flemish ID cards and driving licences.
- to regionalise the immigration policies
- to regionalise the traffic rules
- to regionalise all the transportation networks (canals, railway and aerial transportations...)
- to break up the last bilingual circonscription (around Brussels)
...
These are only the leaked claims, but I suppose there are more similar claims (for example, the regionalisation of the whole welfare system)
On the other side, Walloon negociators are paralysed. Since they are a minority, all they can do is to accept most of these claims. If they refuse, there will be a state crisis, new elections in September or in October, and the Flemish nationalists (who nearly have the majority in Flanders) are likely to become even more powerful.
That's going to be problematic, because the day Flanders stops funding Wallonia, poverty rate will rise from 4% to 10% and we won't be able to fund our social security system anymore. As for Brussels, which is one of the richest areas in Europe (many international institutions are located there), it could be the victim of this crisis (if the NATO, the EU headquarters etc...leave) and the whole economy of the region (both Flanders and Wallonia) would suffer a lot.
The elections that took place in mid-June have shown the widening gap between Wallonia (where socialists are the major political force) and Flanders (where the N-VA, right-wing nationalists, got an overwhelming victory).
So, the two major parties, which have to lead the negociations in order to find a coalition (and form the future government), are totally opposed on most issues: Walloons want a status-quo (= to keep a federal state where regions have a large autonomy) while Flemish (who are more numerous than the Walloons) want much more autonomy.
Since leaks in the medias had ruined the 2007 negociations (it took 8 months to form a government, and the government fell several times), and since these negociations are even more difficult (this time an openly independentist party is, by far, the largest party in Belgium), the negociators have been very careful and the negociations were secret.
However, the negociations seem to be in a deadlock and some exasperated negociator have leaked some informations in the medias. It looks like the Flemish nationalists are keeping an hard-line, refusing to make concessions.
For example, this party, whose program wants to abolish the monarchy, to merge the Belgian and the Dutch army, and whose long-term goal is the end of Belgium, wants:
- to regionalise all the powers of the ministry of internal affairs: control over elections, the police, the justice...
- to regionalise the passports, ID cards, driving licences...all these things won't be Belgian anymore, we'll have Walloon or Flemish ID cards and driving licences.
- to regionalise the immigration policies
- to regionalise the traffic rules
- to regionalise all the transportation networks (canals, railway and aerial transportations...)
- to break up the last bilingual circonscription (around Brussels)
...
These are only the leaked claims, but I suppose there are more similar claims (for example, the regionalisation of the whole welfare system)
On the other side, Walloon negociators are paralysed. Since they are a minority, all they can do is to accept most of these claims. If they refuse, there will be a state crisis, new elections in September or in October, and the Flemish nationalists (who nearly have the majority in Flanders) are likely to become even more powerful.
That's going to be problematic, because the day Flanders stops funding Wallonia, poverty rate will rise from 4% to 10% and we won't be able to fund our social security system anymore. As for Brussels, which is one of the richest areas in Europe (many international institutions are located there), it could be the victim of this crisis (if the NATO, the EU headquarters etc...leave) and the whole economy of the region (both Flanders and Wallonia) would suffer a lot.
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