Thought bites from Brussels
Isabelle Weykmans, the minister for culture and media, preservation of monuments, youth and sports of the German-speaking Community of Belgium referred to recent drolleries and started off by paraphrasing René Magritte “Ceci n‘est pas un pays“ (This is not a country) and a ‘Belgium for sale’ advertisement on eBay. A healthy dose of humour as well as a certain amount of surrealism had always been required to understand the strange features inherent in the political and constitutional situation of Belgium.
For Ms. Weykmans the fundamental problem was the historic decision in favour of French, the language of nobility, when the state of Belgium was founded. This decision had been softened over time. The Dutch language, as used by Flemish people had gained more and more rights. Later on this also applied to German, after the so-called eastern cantons had been added after World War I.
In the 60s, “facility communities” had been set up. French-speaking people were given the chance of running administrative activities in French in the Flemish and German-speaking areas as well. The entire German-speaking area consists of facility communities. Only the German-speaking area also corresponded to the geographical language area, something that did not hold for the French and Dutch-speaking regions. Their destinies had thus become intertwined.
It was clear that a new reform of the state was required. But the fact was that there are “striking cultural differences“, as opposed to a country like Germany. This meant that matters like transferring money from one side to the other were considerably more difficult. Belgium’s German-speaking community enjoyed large measure of autonomy. At present, it was the smallest EU territory with its own jurisdiction. German-speaking people in Belgium are often called “the last Belgians”. But the small German-speaking community could not present a solution for the present government crisis. In his present role as a mediator, the premier of the German-speaking community, however, had attracted greater attention. This was both correct and a good thing, because the German-speaking community had “always to keep in the limelight” so as not to be overlooked.
The present crisis was a structural one of Belgium as a federal state. People more and more turned to political leaders asking „why don’t you do something? “. A solution had to be found.
Prof. Dr. Christian Behrendt: „The devil is in the detail“
Prof. Dr. Christian Behrendt, a professor of constitutional law at the university of Liège, agreed with the minister and said that the situation had to be looked at with a measure of humour. Otherwise “one would just weep”. The structure of the Belgian state was regulated by five principles and “the devil is in the detail”. For instance, there is not just one type of federalism, but even two, concerning geography and language plus culture. There are exclusive regulations, but there is no linkage between them. Belgium does not have something like the principle in Germany, under which federal law shall override regional law. Rights are of equal rank. On matters going beyond any particular jurisdiction, like quite a few involving the EU, all sides had to agree. Otherwise there would be no agreement. Over and above, regions or communities also represent their competencies in international contexts.
This results in a number of strange features. There is a specific law covering addresses by the King, as public radio responsibilities are subdivided in keeping with language communities. Belgian laws do not allow bilingual schools, because responsibilities are spread over two regions. Children living with their parents in one region cannot attend school in another region, unless applying for and receiving special authority. Though motorways are covered by federal competencies, the country had neglected to provide for transport framework planning, as a result of which certain roads built between the regions lead nowhere. Similar examples could be quoted for rights of lawyers to officiate or for acts covering the protection of the environment. The only way out had so far been the adoption of special laws and exceptional provisions.
A long-running government crisis
During group sessions and debates participants submitted proposals for items the various negotiating sides want to implement in this Belgian government crisis. What became clear quite rapidly was that possible suggestions by one side are quite unacceptable to the other. The Flemish reject general bilingualism for the country, which might hold some attraction for French-speaking Belgians. Experience so far bears out that this leads to a one-sided advance towards French. On the other hand, French-speaking Belgians cannot accept dividing Belgium into two separate regions. It might be possible to have more rights for the German-speaking community, but again this might very soon turn out to be a negative development. As mutual positions and interests cannot be reconciled, it was very probable that the government crisis topic would be the country’s ongoing problem.
|