“Ne vous quittez pas” – On the political crisis in Belgium

In Spring 2010 Belgium held new federal elections after a government falling over the reform of the state. These elections, with the Flemish nationalists gaining the most seats in the federal parliament, did not bring about the expected solution and the political parties supposed to form a government continue to quarrel about the reform of the state. Belgium will soon break the world record of longest government negotiations, a record currently held by Iraq on 248 days. In this opinion article Ernst Stetter tries to give an insight into the political crisis to a broader public, while at the same time calling for institutional innovations to the federal system that would bring back a true federal political dialogue to the Belgian federal system and counter the further separation of the language groups. With thanks to Stijn Van Hummelen for research contributions.

A paper by FEPS Secretary General Ernst Stetter