Journal entries tagged "Belgium"
Belgian politics and the New Year
The New Year has come, and fortunately, a new government for Belgium preceded it slightly. Yes, you heard me. Yet another government. Just when the “Community crisis” seemed to have been forgotten, the economic crisis came along and eventually led to the resignation of our Prime Minister.
It’s probably the last we’ll see for a while of a man who insulted French-speakers but got a record 800.000 votes during the 2007 Federal elections. And this resignation comes just months after he was starting to seem like a capable Prime Minister.
Belgian crisis: when will it be over?
Yet another small political rant about Belgium. I know, I know, but it’s something that I read about every morning in my two newspapers (one Flemish, one French-speaking).
For those not in the know, Belgium (that little country of just 10 million inhabitants, housing most of the EU Institutions and NATO in Brussels) has been undergoing the most “serious” political crisis it has know since its birth in 1830-1831. And as a foreigner, a European, a “Brusseleer”, a silent observer, I’m really annoyed at how things have been going on for the past year.
Hello Flanders
Hello Flanders,
How are you? Long time, no see.
You may not remember me, so here’s a little reminder: my name is Peter, I’m twenty-one years old and I’m British. I’ve lived in Belgium, Brussels to be precise, for the past 16 years. I speak English and French, am fluent in Dutch and know basics in German and Japanese.
I read Le Soir and De Standaard every day, and watch only the television channels you have to offer. I’ve had university Law courses at St Louis and the KUB in Brussels, am now at the UCL and am hoping to do a “Master na Master” in Leuven in a year and a half.