2023-06-12 06:40:15
The Vlaams Belang yesterday presented a step-by-step plan for the independence of Flanders. A text which is presented as an orderly and negotiated partition of Belgium. But if the negotiation does not succeed? Flanders will leave and take Brussels with it, as in Bye Bye Belgium…
water in wine
So far the institutional doctrine of Vlaams Belang has been rather simple, unilateral independence. But the party wants to put water in its wine and presents a step-by-step plan for the independence of Flanders. A response to criticism from years by the nationalist competitor, the N-VA. Bart De Wever pounded the Vlaams Belang calling it a revolutionary, a party that will sow chaos.
The N-VA presents itself as a realistic party which prefers state reforms which will lead to confederalism, then one day perhaps to an independent Flanders. State reforms which by definition must be negotiated with Francophones. Even if Bart De Wever has already evoked the idea of a “coup”, of a non-legal solution to achieve this, it is always a question of negotiating despite everything.
This is the great dividing line between the separatism of the N-VA and that of Vlaams Belang.
Negotiate if possible…
This weekend, Vlaams Belang tried to reduce this divide and be less radical. It presents, I believe for the first time in such detail, a step-by-step plan for the independence of Flanders. First step, a Flemish government which decrees its desire for an ordelijke opdeling van België, an orderly partition of Belgium. There, the Vlaams Belang does not hide the fact that its logical partner is the N-VA.
That means: a negotiation to split the country. But not just any negotiation, a two-way negotiation, between Flanders and Wallonia, without Brussels, since it is understood Brussels is territorially part of Flanders. No question of an enclave in Flemish soil.
The people of Brussels will therefore have no say. But let them be reassured that Vlaams Belang provides for a bilingual regime in Brussels where the rights of French speakers will be fully respected. This is the ambiguity of Belang, how to respect people’s rights if we do not recognize their institutional existence and if we do not ask their opinion? Anyway, the plan continues. Once the negotiation is over with the Walloons, the Flemish Parliament might proclaim itself as a republic and join international bodies and the European Union in the first place.
… Imposing if necessary
But what happens if the negotiation does not succeed? If French speakers want to keep Belgium and say no? It is here that the Vlaams Belang shows its radical face. After expiry of a period, the Flemish Parliament would unilaterally declare its independence. As in Bye Bye Belgium therefore.
There are two forms of violence in this project. First a hostage-taking: the non-recognition of Brussels, which would be forcibly annexed to Flanders. Then an ultimatum to the Walloons: if you do not give in, we will impose our conditions. It is indeed the logic of force rather than that of democracy that is at work here.
Democracy is all the more shelved as the texts do not mention a popular consultation, or a referendum which would have very little chance of succeeding in Brussels, in Wallonia, but even in Flanders according to the latest figures available.
The plan is supposed to bring the Vlaams Belang closer to the N-VA, but in reality, it takes nothing away from the radicalism of a separatism that is imposed by the balance of power. A separatism which in the name of the will of the peoples denies the will of other peoples. If it is consistent with its project of democratic nationalism, the N-VA should clearly reject this plan and denounce it. To see in the next few days.
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#Bye #bye #Belgium #Vlaams #Belang
