Word: flemish
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Composed of French and Flemish speakers who share little common culture, Belgium has always been a bit of an odd duck. Its viability as a nation has been regularly questioned since its founding in 1830, but perhaps never as much as in the last three months. Since national elections in June, the country's politicians have proved unable to form a national government, causing more and more Belgians to wonder whether the country can - or should - stay united...
...Yves Leterme, the Flemish Christian Democrat whose party did best in the June 10 parliamentary elections, was expected to build a coalition with the francophone Christian Democrats, as well as the two liberal parties. But that planned "Orange-Blue" coalition collapsed in acrimony after Leterme insisted on a government platform that would wrest more power from the already weak central government and hand it over the increasingly powerful regions. They already control transport, housing, agriculture and education, but Leterme - playing to his base among prosperous Flemings who resent paying taxes to subsidize lagging Wallonia - sought to add taxation, social security...
...months of coalition negotiations and caretaker governments from October 1978 to April 1979 before a compromise was agreed. But this time, the politicians appear to have reached new levels of mutual incomprehension. "The north and south don't know each other any more," says Peter Vandermeersch, editor of the Flemish daily newspaper De Standaard. "Old-guard politicians would meet, if not publicly, then privately. They would play the parts of the staunch Fleming or Walloon, but they would strike a deal...
...Still, opinion polls appear to show Flemish faith in Belgium deteriorating. In March this year, a survey found only 11% of Flemish backed independence. But after the coalition spat and months of government paralysis, that figure had soared to 39% by August and now stands at 43%. Unless Belgium's political leaders can rekindle their faith in each other - and revive some deft coalition-building skills - the sentiment that Flanders is better off alone could become a fait accompli...
...Despite the optimism of Di Rupo and Reynders, the favorites for the Prime Minister's job remain Flemish: Christian Democrat leader Yves Leterme; Socialist Party leader Johan Vande Lanotte; and Flemish Liberal leader and outgoing Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt...