Belgium Downplays Talk of Breakup
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BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgium has sent an unusual memo to its embassies around the world: If anyone asks whether the country’s Dutch- and French-speaking parts are splitting up, say “No.”
Nearly four months after holding general elections, Belgium’s squabbling political parties still have not put a government together due to a deadlock over demands for more self-rule in Dutch-speaking Flanders and Francophone Wallonia.
The political stalemate has led to press and public speculation that Belgium might be better off breaking up, prompting Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht to offer “useful talking points” to embassy staffs meant to reassure Belgium’s political and business partners worldwide.
The key point to make: “Dutch-speaking and Francophone inhabitants have always strived and managed to live together peacefully,” the memo says.
It instructs embassy staffs to make clear in conversations with the press and others that, after 177 years together, the political ambitions of Dutch- and French-speakers may have “evolved [but] it’s still important to them to avoid any kind of violence.”
Belgium has 6.5 million Dutch-speakers and 4 million Francophones. Just about everything — from cable companies to boy scouts to pigeon racing clubs — is split into Dutch- and French-speaking camps.
The country — a federation and constitutional monarchy — also gives a high degree of self-rule to its three regions. The national Parliament is elected according to a scheme meant to balance representation of the French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemish.
The June 10 legislative elections gave a total of 81 seats to the Christian Democrats and Liberals, enough to form a governing center-right majority in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament.
However, both groups are split into Dutch- and French-speaking parties, which have failed to agree over Flemish demands for more regional autonomy in health, justice, and transport. They are also divided over the rights of a French-speaking minority living in Flemish territory around Brussels — the officially bilingual capital.
