Belgium’s Language dispute gives rise to political crisis

Belgium’s Language dispute gives rise to political crisis
Belgium is undergoing a crisis. It is a dispute over the language rights of Francophone people who live in a clutch of Dutch –speaking suburbs just outside the city limits of Brussels. The dispute is obscure to outsiders, but familiar and divisive to Belgians who know it by the shorthand BHV. The heart of the dispute is a district known as Burssels-Hai –Vilvooorde. Only the capital Brussels is official bilingual However, the crisis runs much deeper than the rights of a French-speaking minority in Dutch-speaking towns, with some asking whether Belgium can continue to exist in its present form . Flanders, Belgium’s Dutch –speaking region accounting for some 60 percent of the 10.5 million populations, has stepped up its efforts to seek more powers to reflect its prosperity. It resents subsidizing the less affluent, French-speaking Wallonia region to its south. Belgium also has a small German-speaking minority. Brussels where around one million people live is officially a bilingual region but lies in the heart of Flanders, where Dutch is the only official language. The row centuries on what rights to apply in the Brussels- Hal-Vaivorde suburbs of the capital where around 100000 French –speakers live. These Flemish-run communities on the outskirts of the city have been trying to dissuade French-speakers from moving in, largely by demanding that they speak Dutch, but also by toughly enforcing rules on public housing.
The more prosperous Dutch-speaking Flanders is seeking greater autonomy while their poorer francophone neighours argue that devolution-there are already regional parliaments- have gone far enough. Some Walloon politicians fear the latest crisis is part of a wider Flemish strategy to split up Belgium. EU President Herman Van Rompuy, the man whom Leterme succeeded as Belgium Prime Minister just five months ago expressed the hope that ‘ good sense will prevail’ and that he will soon be able to work with a ‘ reinvigorated, reinstalled ‘ Belgian government. Last week was the third time Leterme has offered to quit the premiership since Belgium’s last general election in 2007.
It is said that a deep political crisis loomed in Belgium on 21 April2010 after a party threatened to pull out of government if talks between the French and Dutch-language communities are not finalized in 24 hours.’ ‘A deadline a deadline, there are 24hours left, said Enterprise Minster Vincent Van Quickenborne, from the Flemish liberal Open VLD party, part of a five-party coalition led by Prime Minister Yves Leterme. Open VLD leader Alexander De Cro finally pulled his party out of the coalition on 22 April 2010 frustrated by the lack of progress on the issue which is a flashpoint for the nation’s broader intercommoned problems. The kingdom’s leaders and factions have held late night talks all week in an effort to end the standoff part of a row over the devolution of federal powers which has plagued Belgium since the last elections in June 2007 but failed.
Belgium’s king mulling his prime minister’s offer to quit called on April 24 for emergency talks between feudal francophone and Flemish parties to avert a political crisis as the nation prepares to take the EU helm. De Cro said the king’s decision to hand the mission to Reynders, from the francophone liberal Reformist Movement, was ‘a good thing’. Joelle Milquet , chairwoman of the French-speaking Christian Democrat CDH, welcomes the intervention of the Leterme’s decision became inevitable after the Open VLD Flemish liberals walked out of his five-party coalition government as the country’s linguistic fault line threatens to split the country into two. The king asked Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders to seek urgent talks between the parties representing the country’s main communities, the richer Dutch-speaking northern region of Flanders and their poorer francophone neighbours in Wallonia to the south. He asked Reynders ‘ to insure as soon as possible that the condition are there for rapidly resuming negotiation on these institutional problems and Reynders has accepted, the royal palace said in a statement.
Belgians have the perfect right to argue about BHV: there is no law that says domestic political disputes must be simple enough for foreign correspondents to understand them. But foreign reporters do understand this. BHV-or rather the whole story of intercommunity fighting-damages Belgium abroad and in the eyes of the foreigners who live in Belgium. For one thing, it makes the country look less stable than it is. Belgians know that it is not that big a dram when their prime minister tries to reign. Why, they say, it is the third time Yves Leterme has offered to quit .
The problems for Belgium’s reputation are not acute but chronic. For Belgians, disagreements about languages are part of the political landscape. All parties are keen to avoid a prolonged political crisis, and embarrassment as Belgium prepares to take the EU reins in July. The country is proud of Brussels’ status as ‘the capital of Europe’ housing as it does the headquarters of the EU’s main institutions. Let it retain its prestige ending the language conflict.

Md. Masum Billah
Senior Manager: Brac Education Programme, PACE
Brac Centre, 75, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212.
Phone: 9355253 (home), 01714-091431(cell)
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com