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.