Get ready for break-up of Belgium: top minister

[Religious Dick]

Published on Radio Netherlands Worldwide (http://www.rnw.nl)

Get ready for break-up of Belgium: top minister

By Anonymous
Created 5 September 2010 16:33
A top Belgian politician warned the country's citizens on Sunday to "get ready for the break-up of Belgium," as King Albert II seeks to relaunch knife-edge coalition talks.

Leading francophone Socialist Laurette Onkelinx, considered a potential successor to party chief Elio Di Rupo, who gave up on negotiations with separatist Flemish leaders on Friday, gave her prognosis in a newspaper interview.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that because if we split, it will be the weakest who will pay the heaviest price," she told La Derniere Heure. "On the other hand, we can no longer ignore that among a large part of the Flemish population, it's their wish.

"So yes, we have to get ready for the break-up of Belgium. Otherwise we're cooked.

"When I look at the letters I receive, loads of people think it's possible. (Our) politicians have to be prepared," underlined the current caretaker federal minister for health and social affairs.

Albert II tasked late on Saturday the respective speakers of Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders state parliaments to try once more to navigate seven-party talks aimed at securing some form of government, other than the existing day-to-day formation.

That came after seven weeks of efforts by Di Rupo, who says that the biggest Flemish party, the independence-minded New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), rejected the widest set of concessions towards full autonomy for Flanders in Belgium's tortured recent history.

Belgium, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union until the end of the year, adding a further layer to the pressure on the sovereign, has not been able to point to a stable government since June 2007.

The stark comments from Onkelinx followed those of another leading francophone Socialist, Philippe Moureaux, who has said Belgium was on the verge of a "progressive organisation of separation."

Formerly taboo among the poorer francophone parts of Belgium, the prospect of going it alone is no longer considered so -- with a third senior official, the head of the Wallonia state government, Rudy Demotte, also telling RTBF radio that "all options" are now open.

Demotte added that Wallonia and the capital region of Brussels, the third federal state and increasingly the focus of arguments about financial settlements, had the wherewithal "to see what we can do ourselves without waiting for tomorrow."

While located within Flanders' borders, Brussels is officially bi-lingual, although recent studies have shown accelerating numbers of registered French speakers, including the nearly one-in-three who hail from abroad.

Tens of thousands of Flemish people, meanwhile, took part on Sunday in an annual demonstration which consists in symbolically "encircling" Brussels by bike or on foot, to remind locals that they are surrounded by Flanders.

Source URL: http://www.rnw.nl/bulletin/get-ready-break-belgium-top-minister
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[Christians4LessGvt]

it's coming here too...
may be awhile....but it's coming
many americans are not going to enjoy living in a Guatemala type sewer
and when they get sick enough....something will happen
hopefully it can be peaceful like in Belguim

[Stray Pooch]

Funny, since I was in Mons when I was over there at S.H.A.P.E. everyone spoke French.  This is interesting, but they were saying the same thing about Canada back in 1977 when I worked in the Pentagon.  (Damn, I used to be cold-war cool.)  But this does seem to be a little more serious. 

I guess if the Soviet Union can break up . . .

What I wonder is, if Belgium breaks into French and Flemish entities and the South is friendly with France will S.H.A.P.E. have to move again?  Or will it just cease to exist at all.

[Xavier_Onassis]

This would be no bigger a deal than when Czechoslovakia broke up. Both areas of Belgium would still be in the EU, Brussels would still be the EU capital (such as it is). I assume that the German-speaking part of Belgium would remain with the Flemish part.

There is no chance the US would split apart, that is crazy talk.

[Stray Pooch]

This would be no bigger a deal than when Czechoslovakia broke up. Both areas of Belgium would still be in the EU, Brussels would still be the EU capital (such as it is). I assume that the German-speaking part of Belgium would remain with the Flemish part.

There is no chance the US would split apart, that is crazy talk.

I disagree. I don't think we would split with a formal secession movement like 150 years ago, but I do think the country has an excellent chance of collapsing under its own weight.  The aftermath could well look like the remnants of the USSR today.  I very much doubt the US will look anything like it does now - politically or geographically - 50 years from now.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I very much doubt the US will look anything like it does now - politically or geographically - 50 years from now.

=========================================================
Politically, there are sure to be some changes, as the economic system is unsustainable.

Geographically, it will almost certainly be unchanged.

[Christians4LessGvt]

I very much doubt the US will look anything like it does now - politically or geographically - 50 years from now.

You are correct Poochie.

There will not be a 50 state United States 50 years from today,
so if there even is a United States in 50 years...
yes it will be different both politically and geographically.

[Xavier_Onassis]

You guys sound like you escaped from Tomorrowland, where we will have rubber roads and concrete tires and half of us will live under the surface of the oceans.

The economic situation will change gradually. The geography will remain the same.

Remember all those predictions Walt Disney made about the future? We would all be flying about in autogyros, we would all be waited on by robots, but no mention of the Internet or home computers.