Party that wants independence for Belgium’s Dutch speakers heads for gains in general election

Separatist party doing well in Belgian election

BRUSSELS — A separatist party that advocates independence for Dutch-speaking Belgium, leaving the country’s Francophones to fend for themselves, appeared headed for big gains in Sunday’s general election.

With a third of the ballots counted, the Interior Ministry predicted the New Flemish Alliance — a fringe factor until now — would win 23 percent of the vote to become the biggest party in Dutch-speaking Flanders.

The election could be “an unprecedented earthquake in the history of our country,” said a politician in Belgium’s outgoing alliance, Flemish Liberal Party leader Alexander Decroo.

The gain for the separatist Flemish party would mean lost Parliament seats for Premier Yves Leterme’s outgoing coalition of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists — all split into Dutch and French-speaking factions. Its three years in office were marked by enduring linguistic spats that remained unresolved.

Belgium’s two largest regions are Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. In Belgium just about everything — from political parties to broadcasters to boy scouts and voting ballots — already comes in Dutch- and French-speaking versions. Even charities such as the Red Cross and Amnesty International have separate chapters.

The New Flemish Alliance advocates an orderly breakup of Belgium, whose 6.5 million Dutch- and 4 million French-speakers have long been locked in an unhappy union. Flanders would join the European Union, leaving poorer Wallonia, which depends on Flemish funding and has no independence aspirations, in the lurch.

However, if he becomes premier, Bart De Wever, the leader of the New Flemish Alliance, would head a coalition government that would probably inevitably force him to tone down his plea an independent Flanders.

The most likely scenario is that such a government would work for more self rule for Flanders and Wallonia, which already have autonomy in areas such as urban development, environment, agriculture, employment, energy, culture, sports and research.

All Flemish parties want to add justice, health, social security areas, taxation and labor to that list. This is resisted in French-speaking Wallonia, where shifting social security to the regional governments is seen as the first step to the break up of Belgium.

“The election result is a lesson for French speakers to be more positive in constitutional reform negotiations,” said former Foreign Minister Mark Eyskens, a Flemish Christian.

Former Defense Minister Xavier-Francois de Donnea said De Wever will “have to show as premier that he can manage solid constitutional reforms and that he can defend the interests of both Dutch- and French-speakers.”

In contrast to other recent European elections, Belgium’s finances were not a major issue in the campaign.

Belgium must cut public spending by €22 billion ($27 billion) in the years ahead, but in the past three years that issue also took a back seat to Flemish-Walloon sniping.

De Wever’s popularity follows three years of stalemate. As governments worldwide tried to tame a financial crisis and recession, the four that led Belgium since 2007 struggled with linguistic spats while the national debt ballooned.

Nothing illustrates the impasse more than the bilingual voting district comprising Brussels and 35 Flemish towns bordering it.

The high court ruled it illegal in 2003 as only Dutch is the official language in Flanders. Over the years, Francophones from Brussels have moved in large numbers to the city’s leafy Flemish suburbs, where they are accused of refusing to learn Dutch and integrate.