Last Week's Big Story

Several people have e-mailed or commented on a significant Belgian story that emerged last week. CNN covered it on their front page, and mom H. also sent me this article. This was definitely shocking news in Belgium, and the aftermath gripped the country on Friday. It was the talk of the day, and everyone had something to say about it.

In essence, an unannounced, unlabeled “joke” about Flanders declaring independence ran for thirty minutes on a Wallon news station, by a reputable anchor. The stunt included prefabricated scenes of people getting off of the train at the Flanders border to take the bus, people rallying outside of the Royal Palace, the royal family leaving Belgium by plane, and politicians in both regions commenting on the “event”.

Of course, most people on both sides of the border did not find this funny. Embassies sent messages about “developments” in Belgium, people called hotlines crying, stunned people in pubs started yelling, and politicians were confounded. Only deep into the “joke” did the news station print “this is fake” at the bottom of the screen. The whole ordeal has been compared to H.G. Wells’ famous broadcast. In the aftermath, there are already indications heads will roll, and this is going to have some lasting impact.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to comment on the structure of Belgium, and her politics. Belgium declared independence from the Netherlands in 1830, owing largely to religious differences- the Netherlands has a Calvinist Protestant heritage, and Belgium is solidly Catholic. (There are other reasons, consequences of the Napoleonic Wars which ended at Waterloo near Brussels, but that is another chapter). Yet Belgium itself is made up of two major and two minor regions. Flanders, where we now live, is the “Dutch” part of Belgium, next door to the Netherlands. One official language of Belgium is Dutch, though the thick dialect spoken here is called “Flemish”. The other area, Wallonia, is the “French” part in the South. French is a second official language of Belgium. These two components are the “main” parts of Belgium. The “German Cantons” near Eupen are small, but primarily speak German, thus German is the third official language of Belgium. And lastly, in the center there is Brussels, which kind of defies classification, and has its own special status- all Belgium populations are represented here, and it is a very heterogeneous city. Furthermore, 20% of Brussels residents are non-Belgian.

The Flemings and Wallonians have always had a diplomatic relationship, tense at times, and warm at others. Some earlier points of contention were the fact that French was once the only official Belgian language (and the language of the elite), and the French area was once wealthier. Things have changed, and now Flanders is Belgium’s economic powerhouse, which is growing rapidly (case in point: Bekaert). The main current point of conflict at this time is that Wallonian economy is flat, and unemployment is high, while Flanders continues to grow and prosper. Many Flemings resent that they pay very high taxes for their industry, which disproportionately go to pro-socialist Wallonia. There is some truth to this. There is also some truth to the argument that the current spending agreements are inefficient and artificial. For instance, if the government spends 6 million Euros on additions or improvements to the rail lines in Flanders, the government is obligated to spend 4 million Euros in Wallonia. Despite the fact the infrastructure is not needed there. This is of course to create “equal job opportunity” and “development” parity between the two regions, but can be seen as contrived nonetheless.

Of course, there are also counterarguments. There are important agricultural and mineral commodities that come out of Wallonia into Flanders, even if the economy is much slower. The argument that Flanders enjoys the advantage of being next to the sea is also true- Antwerp is the second largest commercial port in Europe, and the ports of Gent and Oostende see much commerce. This has created huge shipping and chemical industries in those areas, among other opportunities. Exactly how much the economic disparity is related to cultural and opportunistic differences is open to debate, but I suspect, as do most Belgians, that the country will adjust to the situation as it has been- slowly granting more autonomy to individual regions until things balance out.

I must take issue with the contention of one of the articles which describes Belgium as a “fragile democracy”. That simply isn’t true- the CIA World Factbook describes Belgium as a “stable, modern democracy”, and the overwhelming majority of citizens in all regions want to maintain a united, federal Belgium. “Complex federation” is a better term. I note the underhanded qualification in the CNN article that reads "Elections show strong support-", which is misleading. Only a few significant political figures favor full independence, most Flemings simply want more autonomy. Suggesting otherwise is not only wrong, its poor journalism.

There are many things that unite Belgians- their common history is one. They all remember Waterloo, their bid for independence, their (shady) history in the Congo, standing up to the Germans (and stopping their advance) in WWI, the underground resistance in WWII. They are united by national symbols such as mussels and chips (the national dish), chocolate, waffles, and the Royal Family. All of Belgium shares Brussels- the capital of Europe, a unique world class city of polyglots and multinationals. Belgium is the headquarters of the EU and NATO, and many other international groups because of, not in spite of, its unique diplomacy and structure.