Belgian collapse is imminent!

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Lancer
In an equitable division of Belgium who would end up with the waffles, France or Germany?

I think the waffles should be donated to American Presidential candidates. They've used up most of their waffling already.

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by GePap
So, did it collapse yet?

I'll let you know after the fifteenth of july. The high lords of power decreed that would be the deadline for a compromise.

[dannubis]

Originally posted by Traianvs


Of course one day this country will break up. I'm not eager to see it anytime soon, because it'll be messy. But... it'll happen (hopefully after I die though )

Well, if the political will to keep a political entity alive doesn't exist any more (or at least not for the right reasons), the political entity has become obsolete.

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by Traianvs


I'll let you know after the fifteenth of july. The high lords of power decreed that would be the deadline for a compromise.

They should opt for breaking up the country on the 21st

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
This doesn't bode well for Kuci. Where would he get his waffle supply?

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/waffles/

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by GePap
So, did it collapse yet?

Not entirely, but unfortunately it's well on its way .

Belgian PM 'to offer resignation'
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme is tendering his government's resignation to the king after failing to carry out political reforms, his spokesman says.

King Albert II will have to decide whether to accept his resignation.

Mr Leterme had set a 15 July deadline to push through measures to devolve more power to the regions.

He took office in March - after nine months of political deadlock - as the head of a coalition of Dutch and French-speaking parties.

The coalition includes Mr Leterme's Flemish Christian Democrats from the north as well as Socialists from the French-speaking region of Wallonia in the south.

The prime minister was due to present a state reform deal in a speech to parliament on Tuesday.

Before last June's general election, Mr Leterme had promised his supporters even more devolved powers for regional governments in a country that is already Europe's most decentralised state.

In French-speaking Wallonia - where unemployment is higher and the economy sluggish - there were fears this would leave their region worse off.

No single party bridges the linguistic and geographic gulf between Belgium's two regions.

Traditionally, the prime minister comes from one of the majority Flemish parties.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7506640.stm

Doesn't provide much info, but there it is. The **** has hit the fan. Nobody has any idea what's going to happen now. Quite scary actually.

[Victor Galis]

So it took 9 months to form a government, that government tried to do stuff for 4 months but proved unworkable, and now you're government-less again?

[Winston]

For enhanced accuracy, they should change their name to Somalium. If need be, breed more goats. But no piracy!

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
So it took 9 months to form a government, that government tried to do stuff for 4 months but proved unworkable, and now you're government-less again?

Actually, it took us nine months to form an interim-government lead by former prime minister Verhofstadt (dubbed Verhofstadt III, as he was in power for 2 earlier four-year terms). That government was mainly dedicated to running affairs and, then the government was formed that just stepped down

Belgium had a similar period of instability bout 25 years ago, that caused us to have an enormous state debt. Over the last decade we have been reducing that speedily (by cutting down on pensions etc). It was called a wonder by many foreign observers (not really a wonder when taken into account that it was funded by one time operations like selling government buildings, and cutting down on the aforementioned pensions and the like ).

Sadly, this crisis is getting us back where we were. These are very bad tidings. I'm really worried atm..

[dannubis]

The current idiot in charge, Leterme, has been campaigning on regional issues for the past 5 years now...

Given this fact I really wonder how people were confident that this conservative clown would have been able to do a god damn thing...

[Dinner]

So the heart of the current problem is that people in Wallonia want more government largess but the people in Flanders are tired of paying for it?

[dannubis]

Not really,

Currently the economical situation is such that Flanders is making money and Wallonia is losing it.

The problem is that "currently" already lasts 50 years.

[Maniac]

Don't believe the naysayers. There's nothing wrong going on in Belgium. Please invest in Belgium. NOW!

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Oerdin
So the heart of the current problem is that people in Wallonia want more government largess but the people in Flanders are tired of paying for it?

Most Flemish have no problem with solidarity, meaning that we give money to Wallonia. We do have a problem with the fact that Walloons flush all that money down the drain. Why can Ireland for example flourish so quickly with European money and Wallonia can't? On top of tons of European money, they also got a ****load of Flemish money, but nothing changes. It's because their government and politicians are inherently bad.

Because they fear Flemish want to secede - which is absolutely not want they want by the way - Walloons demand more influence in Brussels. But Flemish would be crazy to give up Brussels because it's equally important to us. There's a lot of ins and outs, very complicated matters, with Walloons claiming Flemish territory and all that. In a way it's the good old French imperialist attitude, and albeit that's exagerrated, I can understand people who coin it that way.

It's curious that even I get agitated by Wallonian (but also Flemish) stubborness, I don't consider myself "Flemish" or nationalist at all...

[Traianvs]

In De Standaard:

De Franstalige partijen, die 40 procent van de bevolking
vertegenwoordigen, kunnen federaal elke vraag
van de Vlaamse partijen, die 60 procent van de bevolking
vertegenwoordigen, afblokken. Heel de federale
politiek berust daarop en dat is via allerlei mechanismen
verankerd: de pariteit binnen de ministerraad, de
bijzondere meerderheden, de belangenconflicten.
De Franstalige partijen gebruiken die mechanismen
voluit. Ook in het dagelijkse beleid. Er gebeurt niets als
zij het er niet mee eens zijn. De democratische meerderheid
speelt nooit. Dat remt alle takken van het beleid.
Hier geldt altijd het tempo van de traagste.
Wat is een natuurlijke reactie van die 60 procent daarop?
Almaar meer autonomie eisen, natuurlijk. Dan
kunnen we ten minste in eigen regio het beleid voeren
dat we voorstaan, redeneren ze.

Dat is het dus helemaal eh