June parliamentary elections in Belgium produce large gains for the secessionist Flemish party N-VA, led by Bart De Wever. After years of inter-communal in fighting and a growing separateness between the Francophone and Dutch speaking communities, there is now a very real possibility of a split in a European country, peacefully a la Czechoslovakia, but nevertheless scandalous for a country right at the epicentre of the dream of a fully federalised Europe.
UK at periphery of European dream
Whilst London and the South East would undoubtedly be considered at the heart of Europe on a number of different scales, not least the free marketing, laissez faire, Anglo Saxon style of financial venturing in the City of London deemed so unpopular with Continental principles of the Social Market, let's just say the British on the whole have never felt to be in the ‘club.’ To say that Mrs T. wasn’t exactly bosom pals with Helmut Schmidt or Francois Mitterrand is a bit like saying that she was a little ambivalent towards the Hard Left.
The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) sum up this middle class, Centre Right position very well. One might like to holiday, nay live in the Dordogne, or should that be Dordogneshire; extol the virtues of Francophone, Italian or Spanish culture, the wit and ingénue of her peoples, the food, plonk and Gauloises-scented cafes. But the sheer notion of voting in European elections for the very same people, suited and booted in some anodyne functionary office space, brings forth periodically the Alec Salmond, or should that be Terry Wogan, of English politics, Nigel Farrage to vent a collective sneer at a people so quickly re-stereotyped as purveyors of terrible music, moustaches and those annoying mopeds.
Herman van Rompuy attacked by Nigel Farrage
And when his greatest moment arrived, all of his life’s work and moral purpose was honed to a crescendo of opportunity meeting with execution in the epicentre of European bureaucracy, the European Parliament. He stood and addressed the members, the Speaker Jerzy Buzek and the millions who weren’t watching at the time on the terminally dull Euronews, to address the newly non-elected President of 500 million people, Herman van Rompuy, who also conveniently happened to come from Belgium. For Mr. Farrage, things couldn’t get any better.
Yet, the politics aside, is it fair to label Belgium a “non country”? It’s less polyglot than Switzerland, longer lasting than either Germany or Italy and yet its demise has seemingly been imminent for the last 50 years. Split as it is between the Romansch French speaking Walloons to the south and the Germanic Dutch speaking Vlaams lying closer to the sea on the flat north European plain, Belgium has long been incentivised from Royal decree to make Belgium great, as King Leopold II did in encouraging the then conquest and subsequent bloodshed that befell a country in Congo, one could argue has never recovered from.
Secession is not yet inevitable
After half a century of increased Flemish nationalist expression, political recriminations and deadlock, the Belgian nation looks rather like its football team, a poor shadow of its former self. But whilst there is talk of Wallonia joining France, largely French-speaking Brussels is in Flanders, and the Flemish would surely not agree to loss of the capital in any secession agreements. N-VA might have done well, but their only true supporter for secession is the much-reviled Far Right party Vlaams Belang, while previous Flemish leader Yves Leterme called for a strong federal state.
This year is the 180th anniversary of modern Belgium, and after what seems like 179 of those being leaderless after non-committal elections and horse trading, for all the gloom, it could just be that Belgium is made of sterner stuff and may well be around for a few years yet.
Stephen Dennison - Stephen Dennison recently graduated with a Batchelors Degree in Human Geography. After living in a number of places in England, he is ...
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