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Belgium has not had a government since December 2018, when the cabinet headed by Charles Michel collapsed: the coalition was rocked by immigration disputes.
Last year’s elections did not find a way out of stagnation. Negotiations continued to fail, and more and more new party representatives joined them.
This political crisis is not news. Belgium has long lived without a government. When Yves Leterme’s cabinet collapsed, there were 589 days in December 2011 when Elio Di Rupo took over as prime minister.
And since the Belgians already know this paralysis well, they don’t seem to be overly concerned, especially since this time there is no talk of a possible breakup of Belgium.
Problems are not resolved
Acting Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes has been sitting in the Prime Minister’s office for a long time. However, it does not have much power and the deputies, although they go to work, do not pass ambitious laws.
Scanpix / AP Photo / Sophie Wilmes
Officials simply work as they did, although there is no budget, as the previous document serves as a guide for this year. When Donald Trump’s passions for impeachment were unleashed in Washington late last year, the Belgians shrugged, understand, we have no one to pronounce impeachment.
Experts say that by doing so, Belgium postpones important decisions and will suffer in the long term.
Part of the population says they see no difference in whether there is a government or not. After all, the trains run, as always slow and late.
However, experts say by doing so, Belgium postpones important decisions and will suffer in the long term.
“If you are an ordinary citizen, it would be difficult to see that the provisional government is currently working,” explained Carl Devos, a political scientist at the University of Ghent. “But it costs us problems that cannot be solved precisely because there is no government.”
According to C. Davos, the EU’s joint action is helping to combat the effects of the coronavir crisis on the economy, but Belgium needs to deal with the budget deficit and improve the pension system.
Temporary – not necessarily bad?
Prolonged coalition formation in parliamentary democracies is not uncommon, especially today, when smaller parties opposed to the political elite are becoming increasingly popular. Spain, Austria negotiated for a long time and Israel needed three elections.
Of course, Belgium is still special. Dutch-speaking Flanders is moving slightly to the right, while the French-speaking south of the country is traveling to the left. There is less and less room for commitment and moderation.
“I will do my best to ensure stability so that the current job can continue,” Wilmes said as soon as he took office as interim prime minister.
AFP / Scanpix Photo / Sophie Wilmes
At least this year, surveys revealed that up to 80 percent. Belgians are ashamed that the country has no government. Abroad, however, there is no discontent, unlike previous crises, when the Belgians raised the country’s flags in protest.
Many people like the centrist views of S. Wilmes. For example, a commentator for the De Standaard newspaper generally admitted that he liked interim governments and said that interim chancellor Brigitte Bierlein had done well in Austria for a year.
Reuters / Scanpix photo / Brigitte Bierlein
“Bierlein is only doing what he was called to do, not politicizing and campaigning,” said Caroline de Gruyter.
There’s no difference
In other countries, such exhausting negotiations would mean an almost existential crisis, but the Belgians seem to be used to the situation: they are very aware of living in a country that is impossible to control, but where life still continues in some way.
“It just caught our eye then. We are used to it. There is no difference,” passersby told AFP journalists in central Brussels this winter.
Scanpix / AP photo / Couple with masks in Brussels
Designer Odile emphasized that compatriots could already shake hands on the absurdities of diverse Belgium, and Reda, an unemployed person of Moroccan descent, said: “If there is a government or there is no peace.”
Finally, in 2020, all the fatalistic rhetoric about a paralyzed government was replaced by a debate over the coronavirus that hit Belgium extremely hard. COVID-19 killed thousands of people in the country.
It was the coronavirus that led the Belgian parties to finally agree in March to support Wilmes and give him a special mandate to fight COVID-19. On the other hand, the Prime Minister remains temporary.
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