[lg policy] Language Spat Splits Belgian Government

[Harold Schiffman]

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April 22, 2010
Language Spat Splits Belgian Government
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:56 p.m. ET

BRUSSELS (AP) -- Belgian Premier Yves Leterme's government collapsed
Thursday after negotiations broke down to resolve a long-simmering
dispute between Dutch- and French-speaking politicians over a
bilingual voting district. Dutch-speaking Liberals, one of Leterme's
five coalition parties, quit the Cabinet, accusing its Francophone
counterparts of blocking a deal to break up the Brussels-area district
the constitutional court ruled illegal in 2003.  Leterme offered King
Albert the resignation of his government.
The Belgian monarch did not immediately accept it, but began
consultations with key politicians on the way forward. That may take
several days, Parliament President Patrick Dewael told reporters.

In a statement, the royal palace called a political crisis
''inopportune.'' It said it could harm ''Belgium's role in Europe and
at an international level'' -- a reference to fear that the political
deadlock could drag into the second half of 2010 when Belgium holds
the EU's rotating presidency. That is not an unreasonable fear.
Leterme's government took office March 20, 2008 after a political
impasse over a similar and related linguistic spat that lasted a
record 194 days. Linguistic disputes -- rooted in history and economic
differences -- have long dominated politics in this country of 6.5
million Dutch-speakers and 4 million Francophones.

Belgium is divided into Dutch- and French-speaking regions, which
determines what single language is used on everything from mortgages
and traffic signs to election ballots and divorce papers. In 2003, the
Constitutional Court ruled the bilingual Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
voting district illegal since it violates the separation of Dutch- and
French-language regions. It comprises officially bilingual Brussels
but also 20-odd towns in Dutch-speaking Flanders around the capital.
Dutch-speaking politicians have long complained the district lets
Francophones -- who have moved from Brussels into Dutch-speaking
suburbs -- vote for French-speaking parties in the capital.

Leterme's alliance of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists --
split into Dutch and French-speaking camps -- took office March 20,
2008. They agreed to resolve the voting district issue by Easter of
2010, a deadline that was missed. Leterme's government fell apart when
he asked for another extension of the deadline. ''We are the end of
our rope,'' Guy Vanhengel, a Flemish Liberal said Thursday. ''I think
that efforts to come to a negotiated settlement are not succeeding.''
Belgium has three main regions: Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north,
economically-lagging Francophone Wallonia in the south, and officially
bilingual -- but largely French-speaking -- Brussels in the middle.
The three regions have in the past 25 years acquired ever more
autonomy.

As King Albert met with political leaders at the royal palace, about
15 members of the far-right Flemish Interest party sang the Flemish
anthem and briefly hoisted a banner in the empty parliament chamber.
It read: ''Time For An Independent Flanders.'' Flemish parties want
their prosperous part of the country to be even more autonomous,
notably by shifting taxes and some social security measures from the
federal to the regional level. They also want more self-rule in
transport, health, labor market and justice areas.
Francophone parties say enough powers have been devolved since the
mid-1980s and accuse Dutch-speakers of trying to cut loose Wallonia,
troubled by desolate smokestack landscapes and an excessive jobless
rate. It is that tense backdrop that feeds the debate over the
contentious voting district.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/22/world/AP-EU-Belgium-Government-Crisis.html?_r=1&sq=Belgium:%20Government%20Fails&st=cse&scp=3&pagewanted=print

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