Belgium

Declining milk prices have apparently put many farmers in danger of bankruptcy, as supply exceeds demand despite attempts by the Commission to stabilize the market. When EU agriculture ministers met informally on Monday 5 October to discuss the matter, farmers from across the continent showed up in Brussels’ European quarter as well. Tractors blocked the street, as bonfires of straw and tyres burnt as milk was poured over the barricades protecting the EU institutions.

Image: www.flickr.com/ striatic

Three days after Yves Leterme’s third resignation since the 2007 elections, King Albert II tried to avoid a crisis by refusing the Prime Minsiter’s resignation on Friday 18 July. He designated three emisaries responsible for “examining how certain guarantees may be provided so as to initiate a plausible institutional dialogue”. The three emisaries are francophone, however Leterme remains involved in the institutional negotiations – a means of showing the francophones that the ball is in their court while keeping the favourite Flemish party on their side. Many in Belgium have doubts about the credibility of such a scenario considering the extent to which positions are divided. The issue at stake is “confederalism”, a type of soft division of Belgium, which enables the Flemish to avoid yielding Brussels to the Wallonians, bearing in mind the majority of Brussels is francophone. While the country has long been considered as a laboratory of a plural Europe, the vicissitudes of the politico-institutional crisis that has been lasting since June 2007 keep resurfacing. Let’s hope that the host to the majority of Community institutions will not serve as an anti-model to the ideals that Europe seeks to embody.

9 months after the last Parliamentary elections, Belgium will finally have stable government this week. The 5 parties making up the ruling coalition have finally agreed on a program which paves the way for Yves Leterme, the Flemish Christian democrat leader, to step in as Prime Minister. The agreement focuses on socio-economic issues leaving aside the tough institutional questions. Disagreements on the evolution of the Belgian institutions had been the major stumbling block for the creation of a government in the past months. It seems that Mr Leterme is putting off facing the difficult issues, but on the other hand, after an unprecedented crisis, it is essential for Belgium to have an identifiable leader and a stable cabinet to deal with the challenges facing the country beyond the institutional disputes.

It would be somewhat misleading to call it news but still…On Monday 19, Belgium had been without a government for 162 days. An astonishing national record. And a recent poll conducted by the Flemish broadcasting network VRT revealed that 60% of the Flemish support Flemish independence whereas 91% of the Wallonians are against Belgium breaking up. Of course, whether this is good or bad news depends on the eye of the beholder. But if you are one of many national government leaders with a seperatist movement growing in the national backyard the Belgian crisis is bad news. Should the crisis lead to the break up of what increasingly seems to be an unhappy marriage, separatists all over Europe, from the highlands of Scotland to Las Ramblas of Catalonia, will have a field day. While the Belgians are debating, Spain’s Zapatero and UK’s Brown are observing the conflict carefully, hoping that a compromise is found that leaves Belgium intact. At least for now. Because in the long run a divorce of the uneasy couple seems difficult to avoid.