Treffie
06-14-2010, 10:00 AM
A separatist party was on course to win the most votes in Flanders last night for the first time in a Belgian general election, increasing the prospect that the country will split into the Flemish north and French-speaking south.
The New Flemish Alliance, led by Bart de Wever, 39, was heading for about 29 per cent of the votes in Flanders on a promise to break away from Wallonia and become an independent member of the European Union.
Mr de Wever’s success comes four days after Geert Wilders’s anti-Islamic Freedom Party claimed third place in next-door Netherlands on 15 per cent of the national vote as the economic crisis fuels nationalist fervour.
Both countries will now be plunged into weeks of difficult negotiations to form a workable government coalition from a fragmented patchwork of parties, with potentially disastrous implications for their economies.
The process is even more complex in Belgium, where there are no national parties, with the combined Wallonian and Flemish Socialists likely to be the biggest group. Mr de Wever has said that he would be content to see the Socialist Elio di Rupo become the first French-speaking Prime Minister since 1974, provided that the new government devolved more power to the regions. The Socialists are strongly against the break-up of Belgium.
Claiming victory last night, Mr de Wever told cheering supporters: “The N-VA has won the election. We stand before you with a party that has some 30 per cent (of the Flemish vote).”
Pierre Verjans, a University of Liège political scientist, said that he felt “a sense of mourning going on”. He added: “French-speakers now fear a Belgium without Dutch-speakers.”
Mr de Wever was a marginal figure at the 2007 Belgian election, but support grew for his separatist message out of frustration at the paralysed system of pan-Belgian politics when it took nine months to form a shaky five-party coalition.
Many Flemish voters are also increasingly frustrated at having to subsidise social security bills in the poorer, French-speaking south, where the collapse of traditional industry has led to much higher unemployment than in the north. The unhappy marriage of the parsimonious Germanic north and spendthrift Latin south is often cited as a microcosm for the centrifugal forces undermining the EU’s own response to the financial crisis.
Another nail was driven into the coffin of the political system when the last Government fell after failing to redraw Flemish and French-speaking electoral boundaries — an arcane row compared to the urgent need to address the burgeoning national debt.
Belgium was created in 1830 and is made up of 6.5 million Dutch speakers and 4 million French speakers. The two communities have become increasingly suspicious of each other, and each have their own political parties, television stations and newspapers.
Mr de Wever has made Flemish nationalism respectable by advocating a gradual process of independence for Flanders, rather than the revolution preached by the ultra-nationalist Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), which gained about 12.5 per cent of the votes in Flanders, down 6.6 points on 2007. But he has also taken thousands of votes from the centre-right Flemish Christian Democrats, who led the last lacklustre administration.
Source (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7149542.ece)
The New Flemish Alliance, led by Bart de Wever, 39, was heading for about 29 per cent of the votes in Flanders on a promise to break away from Wallonia and become an independent member of the European Union.
Mr de Wever’s success comes four days after Geert Wilders’s anti-Islamic Freedom Party claimed third place in next-door Netherlands on 15 per cent of the national vote as the economic crisis fuels nationalist fervour.
Both countries will now be plunged into weeks of difficult negotiations to form a workable government coalition from a fragmented patchwork of parties, with potentially disastrous implications for their economies.
The process is even more complex in Belgium, where there are no national parties, with the combined Wallonian and Flemish Socialists likely to be the biggest group. Mr de Wever has said that he would be content to see the Socialist Elio di Rupo become the first French-speaking Prime Minister since 1974, provided that the new government devolved more power to the regions. The Socialists are strongly against the break-up of Belgium.
Claiming victory last night, Mr de Wever told cheering supporters: “The N-VA has won the election. We stand before you with a party that has some 30 per cent (of the Flemish vote).”
Pierre Verjans, a University of Liège political scientist, said that he felt “a sense of mourning going on”. He added: “French-speakers now fear a Belgium without Dutch-speakers.”
Mr de Wever was a marginal figure at the 2007 Belgian election, but support grew for his separatist message out of frustration at the paralysed system of pan-Belgian politics when it took nine months to form a shaky five-party coalition.
Many Flemish voters are also increasingly frustrated at having to subsidise social security bills in the poorer, French-speaking south, where the collapse of traditional industry has led to much higher unemployment than in the north. The unhappy marriage of the parsimonious Germanic north and spendthrift Latin south is often cited as a microcosm for the centrifugal forces undermining the EU’s own response to the financial crisis.
Another nail was driven into the coffin of the political system when the last Government fell after failing to redraw Flemish and French-speaking electoral boundaries — an arcane row compared to the urgent need to address the burgeoning national debt.
Belgium was created in 1830 and is made up of 6.5 million Dutch speakers and 4 million French speakers. The two communities have become increasingly suspicious of each other, and each have their own political parties, television stations and newspapers.
Mr de Wever has made Flemish nationalism respectable by advocating a gradual process of independence for Flanders, rather than the revolution preached by the ultra-nationalist Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), which gained about 12.5 per cent of the votes in Flanders, down 6.6 points on 2007. But he has also taken thousands of votes from the centre-right Flemish Christian Democrats, who led the last lacklustre administration.
Source (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7149542.ece)