philippe
FYI, I chase trains.
nice post and a good explanatian, though you forget to mention with whats happening in B-H-V is unconstitional,so the wallons won't give in to our constitution.First off, I live in Flanders and I'm one of the few Flemish who's against the separation of Flanders and Wallonia. Our nation's motto is "Eendracht maakt Macht" (in dutch, "l'Union fait lla Force" in French, or "Strength through Unity" in English).
One of the main reasons Belgians are for a separation is because in the two parts of Belgium we speak a different language. Many people even claim that because we don't share the same laguage, our culture is not the same (no Belgian tv network, no Belgian newspaper). I think there are a lot of examples of nations to be found throughout the world though where different languages are spoken and where the people can get along (though the opposite is true as well).
Another reason Flemish people want to separate from Wallonnia is because Wallonia is economically not so strong as Flanders. With our many socialist services many people from the northern (Flemish) part think they have to pay for the social security and welfare for the southern (Walloon) part of Belgium. what people tend to forget though is that Wallonia had a blooming economy up until +-20 yrs and Flemish people would go from the most northern part of Belgium to the most southern part to find a job. When the steel and coal industry tumbled into pieces, many people lost their jobs in Wallonia and had/have to find one in Flanders.
In the article it said that politicians are struggling for over three months to create a government. This is because in Flanders the Christian Democrats (who are in a coalition with a Flemish nationalistic party) have won and in Wallonia the Liberal Democrats have won (for the first time in +-25 yrs it wasn't a Walloon socialist victory). The are now quarreling because the Flemish politicians want more Flemish autonomy, while this is not the most favorite topic for the Walloon people. Most of the arguementsabout separation are about Brussels which is in a Flemish (Dutch speaking) province (= +- state), but practically 80% of Brussels' inhabitans speak French.
If you read the entire post I hope I didn't bore youIt will be easier for you to give an opinion about this difficult matter (although it's even too difficult for politicians and people who've lived here all of their lives). Below you see a map of Belgium (Flanders is yellowish, Wallonia is red, and Brussels capital is blue.)
^I don't want to hear any jokes about this...
btw, i am for an independent flanders in europe (province in country europe) but an independancy of Flanders is now too costly.
but there must be a line drawn in the wallon part: NO MORE CORRUPTION!
else there never will be a change.
) But what you're saying is just not true, nobody is banning people from speaking French on the streets... they can even get their official documents in French if they want. The problem is very complicated and has to do with voting, people could vote for Walloon parties in that part of Flanders. But recently, a politicaly neutral judge has said that it has to stop, french speaking politicians don't want that and are blocking the goverment creation, unless they get like a part of Flanders. And the worst part is, they can't hold new elections cause it would be unconstitutional because of what the judge said.
