What was that about a Non-Country?

Nigel Farage did get into trouble about being rude about Belgium. He infammously described it as a non-country.

Heis resaons where that its different tribes were unable to get on, and that they hadn't been able to sort out a Government. He was fined and it was demanded that he apologise to the poor Belgian's for this slur on their national honour.

So what is hapening in that flat damp land?

"Fabula acta est (the play is over)," N-VA leader Bart De Wever said in Latin in a reaction to the francophone side's rejection of his draft proposal.

On Sunday, De Wever's party presented a compromise proposal to form a seven-party coalition. The three French speaking parties, however, declared the document unacceptable.

Under the N-VA plans, regions would have been able to determine their own labor market police as well as have more say over the judicial system and taxation.

I am intrigued by Mr De Wever's use of Borisian Latin. Of course if he had spoken in Flemish, then the Wallons would have cried foul, if he had spoken in French his own people would have gone ballistic, iof he had spoken German the other official language nobody would have understood him and if he had spoken in English he would essentially have admitted that Farage was right.

Tough job being a Belgacist in the current climate.

Even the Francophones are saying it

Normally when hears voices fortelling the end for Belgium they are speaking with distinctly Flemish accents. However Gulf Stream Blues has spotted that these days it is not just the Flemish who are foretelling an end game for that unhappy country,

Francophone socialist Philippe Moureaux came out saying Belgium is on the verge of an orderly separation. Rudy Demotte, the head of the government of Wallonia, said that “all options” are now on the table for them. Francophone Socialist Laurette Onkelinx told the magazine DH Dimanche, “We must prepare for the end of Belgium, otherwise we might be the ones to suffer.”

There is speculation that this is merely a pre-Government negotiating tool, but if so it is pretty extreme stuff for the Walloons.

Death to Belgium: Long live the EU

An interesting article by Morgan Meis on the crisis facing Belgium and the possible salvation offered that land by being in the EU.

In more radical terms, this would mean that the nation state in general, in Europe, could become superfluous. A shocking thought, no doubt. But with the EU providing a federal role, and local and regional governments doing the rest, what good is the nation? The nation state can simply be replaced by direct regional relationships with the transnational body called the EU. If Catalonia is part of the EU, what need for Spain? If Sardinia is an EU member, why the extra baggage of Italy? This isn't to say that all national entities must be dissolved, simply that many of them have outlived their usefulness.

Interesting and maybe practical in some places. But as with everything European, one size does not fit all, and one man's solution to intractable, linguistic, cultural, ethnic problems is another mans tyrany.

As he admits,

Perhaps it will never work out that way. Perhaps the inherent tension between different regional identities always drives people into conflict. Maybe the whole project of the EU will collapse into a disaster that will make the nightmare of last century's world wars look like a good-humored rehearsal for Armageddon. Maybe people simply love killing too much. But I, for one, am learning to appreciate the new separatism. Death, I say, death to Belgium.

Priorities, priorities

EU Observer is reporting that senior officials in Belgium are in no hurry to form a government. The reason is that it could unravel all their hard work in setting up the Belgian EU Presidency that starts in July. As I asked a week or so ago about the Belgian political crisis 'Who Cares'?

Well it is becoming increasingly apparent that the EU does indeed care.

"The current government still has full powers," a senior Belgian official told press in an off-the-record briefing on Sunday (27 June). "Everything we have decided on for the EU presidency has been agreed by all parties from both French and Flemish-speaking communities."
The current set of ministers has built up detailed knowledge of the issues set to dominate the presidency's to-do list as well as constructive personal relationships with their EU counterparts, another contact said.
"The danger is that the new government forms just at the moment of another crisis in the EU," the second Belgian official explained, citing a potential member state application to the eurozone's recently-agreed emergency funding mechanism as an example.

That this sort of stuff is being said, demi-officially speaks volumes. In days of yore elctions were held to form governments that attempted to represent the views of the people who voted. National governments were elected and put forward a program that spoke for and to their electorate.

Now it seems that those views are an inconvienience to the true business, which is to ensure the smooth running of the European Union.

We (the elite) decided to do x or y. Then the people had a say and said the wrong thing, so it would be better all round if we didn't respond to the wishes of the people and just carried on anyway with our previous plans.

Not sure what I would call it, but it certainly does not display any understanding or adhearence to democratic principles.

If I was a Belgian I would be sick to my stomach, and not because of the overcooked Waterzooi

So who hasn't ratified the Treaty?

Well we know that the Poles haven't ratified, and neither have the Czechs. Then of course the Germans are waiting for everybody else before they deal with their own Constitutional Court judgement.

Well I was out this afternoon at the Open Europe demo against the Treaty, when I was bearded by a couple of Belgians and they had a strange story to tell.

From what they told me Belgian hasn't ratified the Treaty either. You see the King signed the Treaty back in July and documents were deposited in Rome in October. But what documents? There was a promise to put copies on the official moniter of Belgium. (A little like the Official Journal of the EU). This hasn't happened, because there is a traditional Belgian row going on.

According to the Belgian constitution, each ofthe regional Parliaments are part of the federal parliament. Therefore they will have the right to complain about EU legislation if they think it contravenes subsidiarity. Naturally the Flemish and the Walloon parliament have not seen eye to eye about the precise details. But the debate in the Belgian federal Parliament about the Treaty was so curtailed by the political chaos in Belgium that this kink was not ironed out.

Thus what was deposited in Rome was not the ratified Treaty, but instead some rather bureacratic IOU saying that the Belgians have every intention of tratifying the Treaty.

Now I hear there is to be a legal challenge launched to clarify the situation.

No valium for the market

Brussels is convulsed in a general strike, that has closed down the metro, buses, trains, some schools and lord alone what else, the stroll acros the greay city this morning was quiet as the Brusselaars took the opportunity to blame the Unions for not being able to get to work. Why are they striking?

They are protesting about the increase in the cost of living. They may as well be striking against the moon. In this moment of finacial madness to strike against the rise in commodity prices is bannanas in the extreme, pointless, expensive and self defeating.

Outside the Bourse in the centre of town, Nescafe had set up a merchandising stall, that was doing a roaring trade with the various Trade Union reps. The Socialist, Liberal and Chritsian Democrat (yes officialy humanist but they are still Chritian Democrats) unions all have different uniforms and make quite a colourful display, if in a 'Habitat' primary-colours fashion.

Footprints in the mud

Ask a non Belge what they know of Belgium. Lack of famous people perhaps, chocolate, beer, cycling maybe, the normal clichés. Dig a little deeper and people will mention the war. That is the first war, poppies and mud.

Only an hour away from the capital and every village has its sombre memorial to the hundreds of thousands who died neck deep in mud.

Amongst the ranks of names you can find those from every continent and every race. And while walking around the volume of the silence can be deafening.

Although visiting battlefields and graveyards may not be everybody's cup of tea, there is more than just viewing the serried ranks of the dead to do. It isn't war porn as some would describe it. For those of you who haven't made the trip to Flanders and the area around Ypres then here are a few pointers that might persuade you that it is worth your while.

The obvious starting point for any trip to the battlefields is a visit to the Menin Gate at Ypres. The Menin Gate memorial is built into the medieval city ramparts over the road that led towards the front. Every soldier that fought on the allied side in the Ypres area, millions of young men in all marched along that very road.

Here every night at 8pm the Last Post Association, a Belgian organisation play the famous tune to commemorate the dead. They will play once for every single name on the memorial. They will be doing this for another hundred years. The only break was due to a little local difficulty between 1939 and 45 but normal service has been resumed since then.

These days the event is a mixture of awe and chaos with thousands of tourists and pilgrims cramming under the gate and along the road either side. Straining to hear the trumpet notes and merrily clicking away on their cameras and mobile phones. School choirs and rugby clubs vie with each other to sing and everybody leaves half an hour later visibly moved.

The old Flanders Fields museum in Ypres's rebuilt cloth hall is on every tour agenda, but frankly I would give it a miss. It has been hit by a severe attack of a strange disease that afflicts museum curators desperate to make their collections 'relevant'. Like so many public organisations, as soon as you see that it has won prizes my advice is run a mile. Any history will have been airbrushed with correctness and information will be skewed through a political prism. No more should you be allowed to look at the evidence and make up your own minds, the visitor today must be taught how to think and what to believe.

Instead I would suggest two very different places that still retain the ability to grab the attention and to grant the individual the courtesy of believing that they have a brain. The first I will mention is the extraordinary collection at what is called Hill 62 or as it is better known Sanctuary Wood a couple of miles outside Ypres itself. Here there is a cafe and private museum run by the grandson of its founders, a local farming family called Schiers. This chap sits huge, moustachioed and expansive behind heaps of stuff, some for sale, that he and they have dug out of the ground. Called the 'iron harvest' it has all been turned up by the plough, Guns, bombs, shells, helmets, buckles, badges, more guns, more shrapnel, mess tins, all in a profusion of rusted reality.

There is a small charge, but well worth it (and the beer is cheap). Having walked through the display (which also includes a range of 'what the butler saw' machines with a plethora of images of the war) you come out into the wood itself. Scraggy and desolate. Muddy at all times of the year - leading to suspicions that the fat fellow wanders around at night with a hose to ensue that the exhibit retains its desolate feel - and criss-crossed with trenches. These are the most authentic of the various trench systems that can be found in the area, muddy, zigzagged, tumbledown and very, very present. Elsewhere trench systems have been given a corporate short back and sides, but here they let it all hang out. By squinting your eyes and filtering out any other visitors you can almost smell the fear.

Another place with a very revealing museum is Diksmuide, or more properly the IJzertoren or Izer tower. Situated on part of the front that was held by Belgian troops it has become the symbol of Flanders, and more particularly Flemish national consciousness.

At 22 stories tall the tower dominates the flat lands all about. It is the second tower to be built on the site, the first was built after the war by Flemish veterans. The Belgian army was largely made up of French speaking officers and Flemish speaking soldiers. This of course led to appalling confusion and many more deaths than was necessary, and further fuelled Flemish resentment.

The original tower had the slogan AVV-VVK: Alles Voor Vlaanderen-Vlaanderen voor Kristus (All for Flanders-Flanders for Christ). upon it. Initials that are carved into Flemish war graves. However this obviously upset the dominant French community and on the night of the 15th March 1946, the war memorial was blown up.

The Flemish, being Flemish replaced the small tower with the massive brick monster that now stands in its place. Inside is a museum of Peace, War and Flemish Independence, not necessarily in that order. Part of the UN's collection of peace museums, it is a roller-coaster of images and artifacts all in Dutch but none the worse for that. It has a message too and one that is unnecessary to translate. The Flemish are really not happy about who they are and where they are.

Over the years the grounds of the tower has hosted huge political rallies and is still a place of pilgrimage for Flemish Nationalists.

Just up the road from the tower is the 'Trench of Death' which is a slightly anodyne reconstruction, of part of the Flemish trench system that looks out over the Yser river. Some bright spark had the good idea of breaching the river banks at this point which meant that the invading German army was stopped in its tracks. The area remained flooded for the duration of the war, but because the trench didn't move - hardly a surprise when you think about it' the German guns had the range of it and constantly pulverized the spot with high explosives. It was however never taken.

Somewhere that is increasing in popularity is Talbot House in Poperinge. This was the great R and R spot for the British army. As a place where soldiers could have a cup of tea, go to church or dress upin women's clothes and put on shows. It retains an atmosphere quite different from every other aspect of the whole Ypres salient experience. It has happiness. The walls seem to have taken upon themselves the calm of the spot, and the forced and unforced joy of the men. An aspect normally overlooked about the experience of the war, was that for most of the time, most soldiers rather enjoyed themselves. Gallows humour abounded. The traditional defence against horror is laughter, and Talbot House is a monument to that counter intuitive reality.

But no trip can be finished in the region without going to the huge British cemetery at Tyne Cot. There are 12,000 graves here. A vast and harrowing field of white Portland stone. There is little to be said abut the place, it is just there and must be seen.

And felt.

Article (slightly edited) first published in UpFront Magazine

A wry thought on Belgium

A comment from an American friend,

"I went to the Unity for BE party with Quarsan. I was dressed in the colours of the BE flag and had a flag thrown over my shoulder. On the way back to Schuman he quipped “I wonder how many people in Schuman will ask you if you are German?”

Answer: Within a block, 3."

Says it all really, but there again so does the fact that there is an online petition site calling for Belgian unity with stickers and posters uyp all over Brussels, the glory of it is that all the slogans are in English as they wouldn't dare put them in either of the big national languages.

Pic Hat tip Studs

Belgium scuppers Constitution? Sadly hoping won't make it happen

Dan Hannan yesterday flags up an idea that was first floated by Chris Booker and has since been taken up by the Devil's Kitchen. That is that the Constitutional Crisis in Belgium may well have a significant impact upon the ability of the EU to get its Constitution.
As Dan puts it,

"the prolonged absence of a Belgian Prime Minister is beginning to cause concern around the EU. If the crisis is still unresolved by 13 December, there will be no one with the authority to sign the Lisbon Treaty"

The premise is that with only a caretaker Government, the Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt will not be constitutionally allowed to sign the Treaty in December if the Belgians have not by then sorted out their little local difficulty.

However following a correspondence with one of Belgium's leading Constitutional lawyers I must, sadly pour cold water on the idea. This is despite comments made in the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, repeated on EU Observer.
His argument goes something like this,

"I have doubts that anything can be done at this stage. Formally, the prime Minister has the authority to sign any treaty. Signing is a matter for the Executive, not for the Belgian parliament".

I repeated my question as to the caretaker status of the PM and whether this had any importance,

"There is some misunderstanding as to the status of a caretaker government:
- as long as the new parliament is not assembled, there is a convention that they can do very few things.
- however, once the parliament is in session again, the government can do more.
I agree that according to tradition, the outgoing government should not sign the Treaty, but there is no legal sanction against doing so. Or rather; the only body who can sanction is Parliament (by not ratifying).

It is true that there are some divergences of opinion on this matter between constitutionalists. But I don't give an action for annulment of the signing (by the Administrative Court) a chance: they will say that the signature itself does not make the Treaty valid in the internal order, and that only the ratification can be attacked (namely before the Constitutional Court)".

Though I have long hoped for the delicious irony that Belgium might cause mayhem by default, I have also believed that a little thing like due process would not stop them. After all 'no' votes didn't.

There again there is the small factor of requiring the Flanders Parliament to ratify the Treaty. That looks to me like one very big stick in their armoury in their disagreements with the Belgian Federal State.

Are people getting happier in Belgium?

A quotation from Johan Norberg relayed to the Capitalist Ball 2007 on the occasion of his receiving a prize from the Centre for a New Europe,

"Happiness is not something we can be given, because it is not something we have, but something we do. Not something we consume, but something we produce. Not a destination, but a way of travelling.
Thank you very much for this award. Have fun. You know, Belgium is actually
one of the few countries that have experienced a significant decline in self-reported well-being in the last decades. But now that Belgium has been without a proper government for four months, I guess it is back up there amongst the happiest countries of the world.
Enjoy the rest of the evening, and remember that the key to lasting authentic happiness is simple - get friends, get married, get rich, stay healthy
and avoid communism".

The paper which received this award can be downloaded here, and a fascinating and effective rebuttal of the ideas of people like Richard Layard it is too.

Ouch

Belgium as seen from Australia,

Belgium long ago abandoned all hope of being a presence on the world stage and gave itself over to the pleasures of alcohol, chocolate, sex and seafood. To this day, it remains a nation untouched by nutrition. These are ideas worth fighting for.

In its almost total lack of ambition, in its unrelenting sense of existential dread, in its drunkenness and in its gluttony, Belgium is the most inspiring of nations. If the Belgians have tired of being Belgian, it is up to us to take their place. If Belgium will not be Belgium, it is up to Australia to be Belgium.

Politicians arrested in Brussels demo agianst ban on demos

Now say what you like about the Vlams Belang, and plenty have plenty to say I have the distinct impression that having the leadership of the largest political party in a country treated like this at a peaceful demnsytration against he ban on demonstrations is overdoing it.

Frank Vanhecke addressing a small crowd of police, before the arrests

Filip Dewinter
Filip Dewinter
Frank Van Hecke

Brussels Journal has some film, I hope to post some later