Belgian crisis deepens after collapse of coalition talks

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/07/europe/belgium.php

Reuters, The Associated Press
Published: November 7, 2007

BRUSSELS: Belgium slumped into one of the deepest political crises in 50 years Wednesday when coalition talks between Flemish and French-speaking parties collapsed under recriminations between their leaders.

After a record 150 days without government, Flemish parties worsened the situation by using their majority in Parliament to vote for carving out a bilingual electoral district in and around Brussels. They did so for the first time in many decades, and against the wishes of their French-speaking counterparts, effectively abandoning a tradition of consensus politics.

"We've lived with a certain balance," said Yvan Mayeur, a French-speaking Socialist lawmaker. "Today the Flemish have brutally broken that balance"

Political analysts had said that such a move, effectively depriving French-speaking Brussels suburbanites of the right to vote for French-speaking parties, would be tantamount to a declaration of war against French-speaking citizens of Belgium. It could effectively kill any chance that the Flemish Christian Democrats and their French-speaking parties would form a four-party, center-right government.

With the chaos in Parliament, it is up to King Albert II to try and find a way out of the deadlock since elections in June for 6 million Dutch-speaking Flemings and 4.5 million French-speaking Walloons.

There was talk of moving toward a government that would deal with only urgent political and economic business, leaving the linguistic disputes for later, perhaps years from now.

"I hope there will be a government that will deal with economic and social issues," said Didier Reynders, a French-speaking Liberal negotiator.

Late Tuesday, a government negotiator, Yves Leterme, presented a compromise to Christian Democrat and Liberal parties from both sides of the language border that divides Belgium into Flanders, in the north, and Wallonia, in the south. Flemish negotiators accepted the plan as a basis for more talks on the language rights in and around Brussels, which is bilingual, but their French-speaking counterparts rejected the proposal, saying that it would effectively bar French-speakers from voting for French-speaking parties in a Flemish area around Brussels.

Leterme was the big winner of the June elections but failed to achieve significant progress on the two most divisive issues: the rights of the French-speaking minority in Flanders close to Brussels and a further devolution of powers to the regions. During months of brokering, French-speaking parties complained that he was protecting Flemings' interests. Leterme hurt his cause as a Belgian unifier when he could not say what was celebrated on Independence Day and sang the Marseillaise when asked for the Belgian national anthem.

The stalemate has led to growing support for Flemish nationalist parties and to talk of a possible breakup of Belgium. Some citizens in and around Brussels have responded by flying Belgium's red, black and yellow flag in a rare show of public patriotism. The departing center-left government of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, meanwhile, has continued in office in a caretaker capacity.