QUOTE(gninori @ Sep 13 2007, 10:09 PM) [snapback]51943[/snapback] completely off-topic in a bookshop today, i was reading some commentaries in the economist, and one about belgium's future really appalled me. are you that close to share Czechoslovakia fate. it's true that one can just divide because part of a bigger project, but i just wondered about the feeling of real belgians anyway, no political talk here! You'd be amazed by what a stupid country we actually are, G... I'll sum things up for you: we actually have 4 governements for a country that has only around 10.500.000 inhabitants. First there's the federal government for the whole of Belgium, then there are the three communities that each have their own governments: Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. On another level, the country is divided in 10 provinces, who each have their own boards and councils. And if that weren't enough, we are then divided in 4 lingual zones: dutch speaking, french speaking, german speaking and bi-lingual. Since the elections three and a half months ago, we still have no federal government. That is because the flemish and walloons are struggling about a reformation of the state, which would give even more rights to the wto sepparate parts (Fl+Wal). Problem is that the walloon part is poorer and economically weaker and they refuse to pass the reformation because it 'd make the budget they get from the federal gov a lot tighter. So first, before a new government can be formed, the have get to settle the terms for the reform. Next problem is that there's a 'cordon sanitaire' around the right extremist party Vlaams Belang (hard to translate, would be something like Flemish Importance/Value), so it's hard to form a coalition between the elected political parties and families - because, of course, each part of the country has their Liberal, Socialist, Christian Democratic, Green, Right Extremistic, Left Extremistic and a party for the people who still don't know what to choose ) Oh, and the guy who's probably becoming PM (the highest political power in our country) has insulted the Walloons on several occasions to make the negotiations even slower than before. But believe me, Belgium won't split, just a lot of threatening each other.
