Vermetel

The past weeks in Belgium

• The liberal VLD starts to resemble more and more a stalinist party. Dissenting opinions are not tolerated anymore. Senator Coveliers is likely to be thrown out of the party on Tuesday. Right-wing opinions and criticizing the government cannot be done in public anymore. Traditional liberal voters can choose between putting up with it or voting Vlaams Belang.


• The liberal VLD and the socialist SP.a 'betrayed' the Flemish front about the division of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral district. They'd rather save the federal government instead of the Flemish government and gave in to Francophone intimidation. Flemish prime minister Yves Leterme (CD&V) can choose: put up with it or make collapsing his own cabinet. The N-VA on the other hand will have no choice of leaving the Flemish government in March if the division has been arranged by then. Their voters would never forgive them for clinging on to Geert Bourgeois' portfolio. To be continued...


• Crown prince Philippe managed to cause another disturbance by intervening in political questions once again. This time he signed a document of the Belgian and Greek employers' organizations urging the Belgian government to take action in implementing the results of the Lisbon summit on liberalizing the economy. This time, especially the Francophone and Socialist parties were pissed off. Prime minister Verhofstadt was forced to warn Philippe this was the last time he could have an opinion without consequence. The Flemish majority parties in the federal government, supplemented with N-VA and Vlaams Belang, want to reduce the monarchy to a Scandinavian-style ceremonial office. Besides, more and more people start questioning Philippe's abilities of being the future King of the Belgians. Or is the problem only that he has bad advisors? Anyway, the republicans managed to collect some more arguments the last few months...


• On the New Year's reception of the SP.a, party leader Steve Stevaert announced in real Fidel Castro-style that he wants the social security being firmly-anchored in the constitution, because "comrades, we will not always be in power". The Socialists act like all other parties would abolish the social security at once in a government without the SP.a. Ridiculous, ofcourse. Besides, if you could find a 2/3 majority now for writing it into the constitution, why would the other parties try to abolish it? Furthermore, if the Socialists would finally start dealing with the abuses in the social security, there'd be enough money to give to the people that really need it in the next decades. But the Socialists, esp. the PS, thrive on the parasitism in some sectors.


• This weekend, I read Derk-Jan Eppink's book Avonturen van een Nederbelg. Eppink is a Dutch political editor who lived in Belgium for some years and worked for NRC Handelsblad and De Standaard. He gives a very good and objective, although not flattering description of the Belgian political ethics. While he was an editor for De Standaard, he clashed with Verhofstadt repeatedly. Verhofdstadt could not tolerate criticism and tried to intimidate the editor in chief every time Eppink wrote through the PM's lies. The book is also available in English (Belgian adventures). For everyone who wants to understand Belgian politics, reading this book is a must!

Negationist secretary

Brussels Secretary of Refuse Collection and Monuments, Emir Kir (PS), is a negationist. He doesn't say anything about the Holocaust, but as a Belgian of Turkish origin, he denies the Armenian genocide of 1915-23. In May 2004, he even took part in a Turkish protest march against the Armenian genocide monument in Ixelles. The march was also joined by some Brussels municipal councillors of MR, PS and cdH. Now, he has authority over all monuments in the Brussels Capital Region. His fellow party member, Ixelles mayor Willy Decourty, said he doesn't think about protecting the monument.
Clearly, one genocide is different from another. In Belgium special laws are voted against denying or trivializing the Holocaust. But other genocides can be denied and even more, Francophone parties support these repudiations, since they're winning Turkish votes in Brussels with it. I'm against laws that punish revisionism and negationism, but I don't think you should allow ministers to do so. Denial of the Holocaust would have caused immediate dismissal. Now, it's allowed or even supported. Tsss...

Best wishes

Dear readers,

I want to wish you all a happy 2005 without too much stress!
I haven't been blogging a lot the last few weeks and I hope to change that in the near future. A lot of ideas, but alas... too little time to write them out.

Peter

This week in Belgium

First, there were two statements of Crown Prince Philippe during a federally coordinated trade mission to China. In an interview with the Flemish rag Story he denounced separatist parties and the Vlaams Belang in particular. Furthermore, the Duke of Brabant wants foreign trade (which is a competence of the regions) transferred back to the federal level. The reactions in North and South were typically different. The Francophones support the Prince's statements whole-heartedly and congratulate him for saying aloud what three quarters of the Belgian people think. All Flemish parties and media however think the heir's pronouncements were, if not unconstitutional, at least not done. According to the Belgian Constitution, the King cannot do any political statements. Since Philippe is the futur King, he's not explicitly forbidden to do so, but he has to be the King of all the Belgians, also of the 1.2 million people in Flanders that vote for separatist and republican parties (VB, N-VA, Spirit). On the other hand, the man is fighting for his job. I am not against monarchy as such, but more and more Flemish people have the impression the Saxe-Coburg family is only the dynasty of the Francophones. Since the Belgian independence, all of them have chosen to support the Brussels French-speaking establishment, maybe except for Leopold III. Most of them even didn't and don't speak Dutch very well. The difference with the Netherlands becomes clear once again. Dutch princes and princesses from foreign origin learn to speak Dutch without an accent in less than a year.

In the VLD's presidential elections, incumbent Bart Somers managed to get elected in the first round with a little more than 50% of the votes (a very Eastern European result if you ask me...). His challenger Jean-Marie Dedecker got 38,32%, a lot more than expected. Dedecker claims to be the moral victor, and in a way, he is right. Somers had the whole party apparatus supporting him. The discontent among the party members is huge. One of the things, they hate the most, is Verhofdstadt's lies about lowering taxes. Taxes haven't been lowered at all. The few measure that were taken, are only paid back to the people as of 2007. That means that primo the government is having that money for two more years and secundo the next government will have a problem. His Flemish liberals haven't been able to carry out anyone of their election promisses. Justice and police reforms are still a big mess. Taxes haven't been lowered and Belgium hasn't become a safer place to live. The foreigner's voting rights have been approved, against a majority of the Flemish people. The electoral and justitial district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde hasn't been split up. Verhofdstadt is a liar and an opportunist. I cannot understand anyone would vote for him. But the people get the government they deserve.

Flemish parliament gagged

Last week, the leaders of the majority fractions in the Flemish parliament announced an agreement no member of the majority parties are allowed to interpellate and question Flemish government members without the consent of ALL fraction leaders. Alternate majorities are also forbidden. This muzzles the Flemish parliament effectively and kills parliamentary democracy (or whatever was still left of it). At least now the ruling parties admit Flanders (and Belgium) is a particraty and thus an oligarchy. The party leaders rule the country. The only opposition parties are Groen! and Vlaams Belang. Belgium and the Netherlands are poles apart. In the Netherlands, often the most vehement opposition and the most pertinent questions are often asked by MPs of the government parties. That's what democraty should be about.

Next week, the VLD (Flemish liberals) elect a new president. It's going to be an interesting race between interim president and former Flemish prime minister Bart Somers and Jean-Marie Dedecker, a more right-wing populist. The whole party apparate supports Somers, but Dedecker has growing support among the VLD base, which is tired of the leftist course of the Flemish and federal governments. Dedecker is also not afraid of saying what the base thinks and by doing this, going against party directions. He might not be a good party leader, but the VLD needs changes if it wants to get 20% of the votes in the next elections.

Also last week, the associations of Flemish public and private hospitals demanded the regionalization of the federal healthcare system. Brussels and Walloon hospitals are overspending (more than 20% health expenses per capita than Flanders) and the federal healthcare budget has to contend with a huge deficit. Federal Health Minister Demotte (PS) denies there is a problem with Francophone hospitals and says everybody has to reduce his expenses. Flemish hospitals do not agree. They say abuses in Francophone Belgium have to be dealt with first. Unfortunately, the week before, a memo of a Mechlin hospital (owned by the VUB) urged doctors to increase earnings by making people come back unnecessarily and only referring them to hospital or VUB doctors. Ofcourse, this behaviour is outrageous. But that doesn't mean there is a problem in the federal health system. There is not only a difference in spending, but also in priorities. Francophone hospitals spend more on radiology, clinical examinations and medicines, while Flemish hospitals spend a lot more on palliative care and psychological support for patients. There seems to a fundamental different view on healthcare spendings between the two parts of the country. So it is maybe not a bad idea to give them both a budget and let them decide on their own how they want to spend it.

Orange revolution in Kiev

I haven't commented yet on what's happening in the Ukraine. I think it's not a situation that can be easily solved. At first sight, I would like to sympathize with people in the streets of Kiev and Lviv. But as I read the comment section of the Guardian, written by John Laughland, a lot of things become clear. I did know the US were poking around in Ukraine, but I did suspect Yanukovich to cheat in the election. Apparently he did not. So this is not a revolution, but a US-supported coup d'état. Western media are totally biased by what Yushchenko is claiming to be the truth. I don't say Yanukovich would be a better president for the Ukrainians, but in a geopolitical view, he's the best, for Europe and for Russia. It's very dangerous to stir up things like these in Russia's backyard. And why are the US still using their Cold War strategy of surrounding Russia? There's only one answer: the natural resources of Russia, in the first place oil. And there's one thing you can say about the Bush administration's policy: it's consistent.

Surrealism, part two

While the Netherlands keep discussing how far you can go in freedom of speech and whether blasphemy should be punishable by law, Belgian politicians are also threatened by Islamists. Senator Mimount Bousakla (SP.a) got phone calls of guy who was saying he was going to kill her ritually. The culprit turned out to be a Fleming converted to Islam. Bousakla, who is of Moroccan origin, is a defender of women's rights in Islam and wants to dissolve the 'Belgian Muslim executive body', because it's full by extremists that are sponsored by Saudi Arabia. Also other politicians of PS and MR claim to be threatened by Islamists. Bousakla got police protection and went into hiding. She didn't get much support from other politicians though, nor from her own SP.a, nor from the Vlaams Belang, that's usually bitching about Islamists (but Bousakla is from Moroccan origin and anti-Vlaams Belang, so now it's not important?). Maya Detiège (SP.a) even claimed it was Bousakla's mistake to criticize Islam, since it was nor the place nor the time. Shame on her and the other Belgian politicians! Justice Minister Onkelinkx (PS) seem to think the whole question was funny. For once, we have a perfectly integrated Muslim woman who dares to speak up and defends the Western model, and nobody is supporting her. If you compare this with the support Hirsi Ali gets in the Netherlands, our particraty should be ashamed. But they are not. Because they don't care.

SP.a ministers even find time to introduce every day more stupid proposals. Federal Minister of Pensions Bruno Tobback wants that the private pension insurance is not paid completely at 65 anymore, but in monthly or yearly portions. If you die at 67, the rest of the saved money should go to a (state) solidarity fund and not to your heirs. Why would anyone wants to save for his or her pension if proposals like this become law? On the other hand, Federal Transport Minister Landuyt wants to authorize inactive people above 55 to give driving classes and be a coach to young people who learn to drive. He claims that getting a driving licence is to expensive. It has become that expensive because of the federal regulations on a minimum number of hours of driving classes. And now he wants to take away jobs from driving instructors? Nice job policy from a Socialist minister, if you ask me...

Surrealism in the Low Countries

In the Netherlands, tensions are rising. Islamists and right-wing extremists seem to have lost their senses and set fire to churches, mosques and islamic schools. At least 25 attempts of arson have been reported. It ressembles a two-side mini-intifada. Dutch Justice and Interior Ministers are calling it a war. And it is. We can go on about what went wrong the last 40 years, but we will have to find a solution. And that is true for all of Western Europe.
Van Gogh was an insulting person, not only to Muslims, but also to Christians, Jews, members of the Dutch Royal House, etc. Justice Minister Donner (CDA) is looking at the current blasphemy laws and wonders whether they should be applied more. I don't think so. Religion is just another expression of meaning. Does that mean I can't say that I think it's ridiculous that Islam sees women as inferior? Because, maybe by saying so, I'm insulting Islam. (Btw, then I can call my whole views a religion and nobody is allowed to insult me anymore.) If we go that direction, and now I quote Dutch Integration Minister Verdonk (VVD), we're giving in to and rewarding Muslims' low threshold for being able to take an insult. Maybe Islamists do form only a small part of Muslim population in Western countries, but bad governance of our governments can result in a general intifada, since Muslim youths (seem to) have no future in our countries. We should set once and for all what is tolerable in a modern society. People that don't want to comply with that, should go to a country where such philosophies are allowed. We think it's barbaric to lapidate a woman for adultery, but if we say so, we are the intolerant ones. Christians are even not allowed to practice their faith in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and the Maldives, while the Saudis are sponsoring the mosques in our countries. There should be mutual respect and that means that if we tolerate mosques in the West, churches (and synogogs, ...) should be allowed on Saudi territory. Even moderate Muslims think general values of life should be different in the Middle East and here, because we are immoral, corrupt infidels and such attitudes cannot be tolerated in the heartland of Islam (see the discussion on Bjørn Stærk's blog.Which ever way you look at it, we'll have a clash of civilizations, if not now, in a few decades.

In the meantime the Belgian Court of Cassation (High Court) has decided to support the decision of Ghent's Court of Appeal about the racist character of the Vlaams Blok. That means the Vlaams Blok had to dissolve itself, in order not to make everybody who cooperates with it liable to punishment. It is unseen in the Western world that a country's biggest party (a quarter of the votes in Flanders - the last poll of Le Soir gave them 26.9%), which never propagated violence, has been outlawed. In order to do this, six laws and a change of constitution had to be voted and a decision of the Brussels Court of Appeal had to be repealed by the High Court. In times like these, it is just surreal to do. Every judicial act, every attack by the establishment has increased the Blok's number of voters. Anyway, the Blok has been dissolved and its successor, Vlaams Belang, was established today.
Ironically, this is exactly what the Vlaams Blok wanted. Thus, their indignation was just a piece of drama. They needed a new party (name) with a new, polished programme in order to become salonfähig in political circles. At the same time, they are telling their loyal voters nothing has changed. But... Now the famous cordon sanitaire doesn't exist anymore and none of the ruling parties in Flanders is about to renew it. The liberal VLD, the Christian Democratic CD&V; and the nationalist N-VA will talk to the Vlaams Belang and in 2006, they will be in the governing coalition of some municipalities, most likely including Belgium's biggest city, Antwerp. And now they have their excuse to work together with a party they denounced for more than twenty years, governing Belgium and Flanders incompentently.