In de Britse krant Telegraph verscheen op 12 augustus dit merkwaardige, grappige en erg juiste artikel over het land B. Een van onze trouwe lezers zond het ons door. Als u naar het originele artikel doorwandelt, staat een video klaar door een bijzonder alerte man ingesproken die er geen doekjes omwindt en blijk geeft van meer inzicht dan een doorsnee Waalse (of Vlaamse) politicus. De steun die Vlaanderen uit Groot-Brittannië ervaart, heeft natuurlijk te maken met veler afkeer van de EU . Men ziet belgië als een EU in het klein : ondemocratisch, dictatoriaal, bedillerig, gelijkhebberig, egoïstisch, anti-volks, ... wie weet nog wat ?
LET'S BIN BELGIUM
Belgium is a little country sandwiched between France and Holland. It disappears periodically, whenever Germany goes on a shopping expedition for territory. Its most famous son is the intrepid reporter Tintin, responsible for solving many a curious international mystery.
But “Tintin Saves Belgium From Self-Destruction” is one adventure of his that you won’t see in the bookshops anytime soon.
Mayhem is just around the corner. And I can’t help but smile. For Belgium’s two main “ethnic” groups, or “nations” if you prefer, no longer want to live together.
The two groups are the Flemish and the Walloons. The Flemish, or Vlams, are industrious and business-minded Dutch speakers. They live in Flanders (the northern bit). The Walloons on the other hand speak French, live in the southern bit (“Wallonia”), and don’t do very much apart from be French, speak French, and act French. Hardly a raison d’être when you have the real France next door.
Belgium’s constitution stipulates that the government should consist of 50pc Flemings and 50pc Walloons, and that no major decision can be taken without a majority in both parts of the country. Which would be fine, if the population did not break down thus: 6 million people in Dutch-speaking Flanders, 3 million in French-speaking Wallonia and 1 million in the officially bilingual but predominantly French-speaking capital Brussels (an enclave within Flanders).
To add to the imbalance, the Flemish, who make up 60pc of the population, also generate something like 70pc of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The rather more easy going and alas socialist Walloons struggle to make up the rest.
Thanks to the silliness of the constitution, this means the representatives of 20pc of the population (i.e. half of the laid-back Walloons) can veto just about any governmental resolution. Put differently, the Flemish work hard to make most of the money, and the French Walloons have the last say.
Despite the last general election being held in on 10th June 2007, the country only got a government in March this year because of endless bickering over language and voting rights. The PM, Yves Leterme – a man supposed to embody the harmony between the two nations, being the result of the union of the Walloon father and a Flemish mother – has resigned three times.
Things are getting so bad some in Flanders want straight secession. Fearing the loss of their “capital” Brussels (an enclave within Flanders, remember), the Walloons have reacted by demanding territorial concessions sufficient to establish a French-speaking land corridor linking Brussels to Wallonia.
The last time there was talk of “enclave”, “land corridors” and “territorial concessions” in Europe, was during the Bosnian war. Coincidentally, that sort of language is common currency in Middle East conflict. As you can therefore imagine, this writer is not too optimistic on Belgium’s chances of survival.
There is a great irony in this doomsday scenario that should not be lost on you, dear viewer and reader. You see, Belgium was always the model little federal-like state made of two different nations living happily ever after – and thus the darling of those dreaming that Great European Dream (a.k.a. “Sameh’s nightmare”).
It was, in short, a Petri dish in which where the EU concocted its formula for the new Empire of many and diverse nations living within a large and happy federal state. So confident were the Eurocrats of their coming success that they made Brussels their capital on the assumption that everything else would just fall into place. WRONG!
Belgium is now falling apart. And if two peoples who vaguely look alike and have lived in close proximity to each other since the year dot cannot cohabit in a country just bigger than Hyde Park, then how will the 27 states of the EU live together in an orderly fashion across an entire continent?
If Belgium goes the way of the dodo, then so may the EU. And would that be such a bad thing? Those Eurocrats have been ramming their nonsensical legislation down our throats for decades now with an incredible sense of determination and destiny. And as the Irish recently found out, these are not people who take no for an answer.
This is the EU way. If some pesky little nation votes against the Master Plan, then they just get them to vote again and again till they get the right answer. It’s an approach to public consultation of which many a dictator posing as a democrat would be proud (Hugo Chavez, anyone? The Algerian FIS Islamist extremists?). “One man, one vote, once.”
If this is the European way, and binning Belgium would put an end to it, then bring it on. The only downside I can see is that Belgians are the proud orchestrators of an extensive gastronomic repertoire. Moules and frites are but an example of much delicious fare cooked up by the peoples of that land (presumably as a way to distract themselves from their boiling hatred of their neighbours). Plus, their beers are world famous. Local Trappist monks bequeathed an excellent heritage of the most wonderful brewing recipes. And for a country that drinks so much, they are nowhere near as violent or rowdy as we are. We can learn something from them.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/newstopics/holycows/2509725/Holy-Cows-Lets-bin-Belgium.html
1 reactie op dit bericht
Na het jaar ....
Heden is het deze van de olifant....volgend jaar deze van het varken ?