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.

Back in September, I started to believe that maybe Yves Leterme had a chance of leading a real government, when a Flemish-nationalist party allied to his party left the government.

Unfortunately, the economic crisis arrived. It required that Belgium save two major banks, Fortis and Dexia, which the Belgian government did rather swiftly. Too swiftly, it would seem, as this safeguarding procedure led to Leterme’s resignation.

Indeed, when bailing out these banks, and in particular Fortis, procedure was set aside. The shareholders did not have their say in the actions led by the government which resulted in the acquisition by BNP Paribas of many of Fortis’s assets, and the European authorities were apparently not contacted either (Leterme said there had been contact, but the Commission basically told the press that this was a lie).

Shareholders instigated an action against the government before the courts, and more blunders were made which made it apparent that the executive power (the government) had meddled with the judiciary power (the courts), which is highly unconstitutional and contrary to the fundamental principles of democracy.

All in all, it was a mess, and in the end, Leterme’s government fell.

A few days later, though, a successor government was in place. All thanks to the determination of our unwilling new Prime Minister, who is seen as a much more competent and safer man.

Well, Mr Van Rompuy, I wish you all the best on this New Year’s Day. And I hope this government won’t stumble as fast and often as the previous one did.

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.

I’ve always been sceptical about politics, because I never felt democracy was the best solution nor well implemented, and because I never found a party to relate to. But studying law forced me to take a new look at the political scene, forced me to try to understand it, most notably because the current political issues in Belgian politics are so closely related to the Belgian Constitution and other such fundamental laws.

Crisis: a historical summary

Last year, when the federal election took place (Belgium is a federal state since 1970), I was really unsure about the future, because the biggest winner of the election was a formerly moderate party, the CD&V, forming a cartel with a separatist party, the N-VA. 33% of the vote in Flanders went to this cartel, a very rare and powerful result in Belgian politics (and I should mention Belgium imposes the vote on its citizens, which means you get an 80-90% turnout or something like it).

Since the election, over a year has passed, and we had to wait until the end of March 2008 to even have a real government. The problem was that neither of the two main sides (“Flemish” – “French-speakers”) ever tried to listen to the other one, and so there was no true negotiation. When there was a negotiation, you could always count on the extremists on either side of the linguistic border (most notably the FDF [French-speaking] and the N-VA) to spice things up and make any agreement fall to bits.

But the bickering continued. See, the CD&V/N-VA cartel won by promising a major reform of the federal system to give far more autonomy to Flanders. Yet no matter how hard they tried, the French-speakers never showed any intention to undertake such a major reform. And whenever the French-speakers agreed to this or that change, the N-VA shouted all over the media that it wasn’t sufficient, and the CD&V felt compelled to adopt the N-VA’s stance (for your information, the CD&V is almost six times as big as the N-VA).

Then, when the French-speakers thought there would be no change, Yves Leterme, who collected an almost unprecedented 800.000 votes in the election and became the Prime Minister, grew a spine. He shed his skin of “Flemish autonomist” and became a Belgian politician. He started to work towards real agreements, sometimes even foregoing his party’s stance on a subject.

14th of July: death of a temporary dream

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. On the 14th of July, the eve of the day for which he was supposed to find an agreement, Yves Leterme offered his resignation to the King.

And as they have done throughout this crisis, the newspapers presented only one side of the story, blaming the other linguistic community for Leterme’s failure (in Le Soir, the N-VA & the CD&V were blamed; in De Standaard, the French-speakers as a whole were blamed). Talk about “professional journalism”.

The real reasons for Leterme’s resignation are numerous. And from what I gather, both sides are to blame. Leterme cannot command his troops. The CD&V cannot distance itself from the N-VA. The Flemish parties are frightened the elector might not consider them Flemish enough at the next election. The French-speaking parties are either too full of themselves to realise better governance is possible or too fearful the electorate might disapprove of any concessions next time around.

The King rejected Leterme’s resignation, and got three new people to help him out, all French-speakers. The Flemish side seems pessimistic. The French-speaking side seems pessimistic.

Opinion of the people

If the political parties and the media seem pessimistic, one thing is certain: the people are fed up, frustrated, annoyed, and generally wish the political elite would implode and never be seen again. All right, not “all the people”. But “more and more”.

These people wish the politicians would stop bickering and started acting on socio-economic matters, where another crisis has appeared over the past year, something that affects these people’s lives much more directly.

Peter’s opinion

I really wish the parties involved would realise that they are playing a very dangerous game, and that they cannot solve this only through political negotiation.

Better governance is indeed possible, and I know that the current federal system is far from being the most efficient and useful one. But “better governance” does not equal “giving more competencies to the Regions”. At least, that’s just part of the equation. Some competencies should probably go back to the Federal level. But which ones?

A real multidisciplinary study is necessary for anyone to come even close to a realistic solution that can satisfy everyone. And it shouldn’t be some random one-week study. Time is needed for such a study to be of any quality.

Until someone in the political process shows enough courage to suggest it and others decide to follow the suggestion, all these current discussions will be void of substance.

So here’s my suggestion, just in case anyone would be watching/reading/listening: how about all the media stop speaking about this crisis and the politicians start focusing on what really matters? That way, in a year or so, they can start discussing this institutional stuff with some real basis for their ideas instead of just using ideology as a basis.

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.

I was writing to know what is going on, because the media have been talking a lot about you lately. Awful things, about how you and those close to you have been forbidding people to speak any other language than yours, for some reason.

Now, I’ve known you for a long time. Well, I’ve watched you. Never really got the chance to meet you properly because I went to a French-speaking school, and I can’t say I learnt to speak your language perfectly there. But I understand you, and I know your story. I understand how you feel about your language. I know it would be great if everyone could speak it.

But, bloody hell, why did you have to go and deal with it this way?

Yes, I am annoyed. Writing this letter is getting me more and more flushed. I really don’t care how proud you are, because it doesn’t justify being so closed to change.

Some of these decisions might not have been made by you personally. You may even disapprove of them. But can’t you see they are giving you a bad name? Every time someone around you says “Flanders is great, and has the right to impose her language on everyone who approaches her”, it reflects badly upon you. The problem being that many people say that nowadays. And as someone who isn’t fully trilingual, I resent that.

If I am given the choice of being forced to talk to you in your language and not talking to you, I’ll take the second option because I don’t want you to send me away if I fail to find the words in your language.

You scare me.
And it’s not because of your slow-minded sisters who live down South, French-Speaking Community and Wallonia. Sure, they influence me, but most of all your ideas go against my culture.
You scare me because I fear you will never see me as “Flemish enough”.

I am European. I am Brusseleer. I am British. Heck, I even feel Belgian at times.
But I am no “Wallon” or “Vlaming”. I don’t mingle in your inter-sister bickering. My opinions on the matter are my own.

It is as a third party that I write and urge you to start reconsidering.
Integration is a nice idea. I know you mean well. But where will your pride bring you?

Think twice about where you are going.

Yours sincerely,

Peter