BELGIAN POLITICS FOR DUMMIES (AFTER THE 2014 GENERAL ELECTIONS) Belgium needs one federal government (supported by a federal parliament), plus three regional governments (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels – each with their own parliament). Ideally these governments should work harmoniously with each other. In practice they don’t. (Very) right-wing nationalists just scored a landslide victory in Flanders. But they are feared (and even hated) everywhere else. Left wing socialists are the biggest party in Wallonia. With their Flemish counterparts, they claim to be the largest political family in the country. Flemish nationalists naturally hate both of them, but particularly the French speaking ones. Right wing liberals have scored solidly everywhere but not sufficiently to be in the driving seat. They want to throw socialists out but often end up in coalition with them. Some are tempted to rule with Flemish nationalists but don’t quite dare to go that far. Christian Democrats have won nowhere but are usually needed to rule everywhere. They typically always squeeze into the ruling coalitions. In Brussels, socialists and liberals are head to head. So called French Democrats (centrists with a slight touch of French nationalism) could decide on a majority. But they are viewed with deep suspicion in Wallonia, and in Flanders. Greens have suffered deep losses in Wallonia and Brussels, where they ruled, but have won a nice victory in Flanders, where they didn’t. Looking at the number of seats, there are dozens of possible combinations to form a majority in each parliament. NOW YOU NEED TO FORM ALL THESE GOVERNMENTS, IDEALLY IN LESS THAN THE 500+ DAYS IT TOOK LAST TIME AROUND. Good luck.
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 19:39:51 +0000
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