Belgium on the verge of breaking up

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...broken-up.html

Belgium on the point of breaking up

Warning: Laurette Onkelinx said: 'People must get ready for the break-up of Belgium ... Otherwise we're cooked'

Belgians must begin preparing for their country to be 'broken up and abolished', one of their top politicians has warned. Leading socialist MP Laurette Onkelinx spoke as King Albert II struggled frantically to kick-start coalition talks between feuding French and Flemish political parties. She issued her doom-laden prediction to national newspaper La Derniere Heure after negotiations with Flemish separatist leaders collapsed on Friday.

Ms Onkelinx said: 'People must get ready for the break-up of Belgium. 'Let's hope it doesn't come to that because if we split, it will be the weakest who will pay the heaviest price. 'On the other hand, we can no longer ignore that among a large part of the Flemish population, it's their wish. 'So yes, we have to get ready for the abolition of Belgium. Otherwise we're cooked. 'When I look at the letters I receive, loads of people think it's possible. Our politicians have to be prepared.' King Albert II attempted to re-launch talks late on Saturday between Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders state parliaments to secure a more stable government than the current fragile day-to-day coalition.

Belgium, which also holds the rotating presidency of the European Union until the end of the year, has not had a stable government since June 2007. The stark comments from Ms Onkelinx followed those of another leading francophone Socialist, Philippe Moureaux, who has said Belgium was on the verge of a 'progressive organisation of separation'. Wallonia state government head Rudy Demotte also told RTBF radio: 'All options are now open.' Meanwhile European Council President and former Belgian PM Herman Van Rompuy said he still believed there was a chance of a breakthrough in the negotiations.

Well this is quite interesting, a failed state due to each side wanting independence. Belgium was never a real country, I think it was created (correct me if i'm wrong) after the Battle of Waterloo. This should serve as a warning for the European Union and even the United Kingdom in that each country wants its independence. It also begs the question, why is a small country which is on the verge of breaking up, telling 26 other countries what to do?

The original speech can be seen on this link of which many (including on here) rubbished the claim.

Remember the rumpus over Nigel Farage's remarks? Mr Farage claimed that divisions between its two major linguistic and regional groups, the Flemish and the Walloons, would soon lead to a permanent split in the country. "The country was an artificial construction and we're now at a point where the Flems and the Walloons are barely on speaking terms. Belgium is a prototype for the entire European Union. Belgium is going to split, it'll do it within the next few years... and when you criticise Belgium, you criticise the flawed European Union model, and that's why they're really upset with me."
Both Labour's Hain and Tory Fox rubbished his remarks at the time. It seems that Farage is a more astute politician than the two aforementioned. Even more amusing is that Janet Street Porter accused him of being racist over his comments, to which he replied asking whether she thought he was being racist towards the Flems or the Walloons - she couldn't answer that.
- CD, Scotland, 6/9/2010 13:47

In the affair of Belgium though, I wish them well in the coming split whether it be now or a couple of years into the future. Below is the map of Belgium by the way and the divide which is there.

Flanders
Walloon (including Brussels in the middle of Flanders)

Thoughts?

[alexxxxx]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...broken-up.html

Belgium on the point of breaking up

Warning: Laurette Onkelinx said: 'People must get ready for the break-up of Belgium ... Otherwise we're cooked'

[COLOR=#000000]

Well this is quite interesting, a failed state due to each side wanting independence. Belgium was never a real country, I think it was created (correct me if i'm wrong) after the Battle of Waterloo. This should serve as a warning for the European Union and even the United Kingdom in that each country wants its independence. It also begs the question, why is a small country which is on the verge of breaking up, telling 26 other countries what to do?

The original speech can be seen on this link of which many (including on here) rubbished the claim.

In the affair of Belgium though, I wish them well in the coming split whether it be now or a couple of years into the future. Below is the map of Belgium by the way and the divide which is there.

Flanders
Walloon (including Brussels in the middle of Flanders)

Thoughts?

Belgium was declared independence in 1830.

[MrPinkPanther]

Well this is quite interesting, a failed state due to each side wanting independence. Belgium was never a real country, I think it was created (correct me if i'm wrong) after the Battle of Waterloo. This should serve as a warning for the European Union and even the United Kingdom in that each country wants its independence. It also begs the question, why is a small country which is on the verge of breaking up, telling 26 other countries what to do?

The original speech can be seen on this link of which many (including on here) rubbished the claim.

In the affair of Belgium though, I wish them well in the coming split whether it be now or a couple of years into the future. Below is the map of Belgium by the way and the divide which is there.

Flanders
Walloon (including Brussels in the middle of Flanders)

Thoughts?

[/COLOR][/LEFT]

My thoughts are the vast majority of what you have posted is irrelevant to the case in hand. In reality it has NOTHING to do with the EU or UKIP. If you want to be taken seriously politically then I'd stop posting all of this drivel in every thread you make.

[-:Undertaker:-]

My thoughts are the vast majority of what you have posted is irrelevant to the case in hand. In reality it has NOTHING to do with the EU or UKIP. If you want to be taken seriously politically then I'd stop posting all of this drivel in every thread you make.

Well yes it does as the article itself says, Belgium has the EU presidency at the moment and is telling 26 other countries what not to do and what to do - not to mention the fact that the last time this was brought up by Nigel Farage, the likes of Peter Hain, Janet Street-Porter and people on here said he was totally wrong - it's all very well slandering the man before he's been proved correct, but hey as this goes to show - he got it spot on.

..and thats something not many politicians can claim to be.

If say, the Labour Party/the Liberal Democrats predicted a double-dip recession thanks to cutbacks and that then occured, you and others would be the first on here to say 'we got it right we got it right' - so it can work both ways i'm sure.

[MrPinkPanther]

If say, the Labour Party/the Liberal Democrats predicted a double-dip recession thanks to cutbacks and that then occured, you and others would be the first on here to say 'we got it right we got it right' - so it can work both ways i'm sure.

How often have I said Vince Cable predicted the recession and housing market crash in 2003? Once perhaps to prove his fiscal competance? The fact that UKIP said Belgium was divided is hardly news, everyone knew that they were, UKIP were just uttering the rhetoric in order to make a point on the EU. It's like Labour saying there is difference in opinion within the coalition, it's like well duh...Oh and UKIP haven't got it right have they? Belgium is still one state not two.

[-:Undertaker:-]

How often have I said Vince Cable predicted the recession and housing market crash in 2003? Once perhaps to prove his fiscal competance? The fact that UKIP said Belgium was divided is hardly news, everyone knew that they were, UKIP were just uttering the rhetoric in order to make a point on the EU. It's like Labour saying there is difference in opinion within the coalition, it's like well duh...Oh and UKIP haven't got it right have they? Belgium is still one state not two.

The party itself didn't state it first and the outrage was against Nigel Farage who came out with it in the first place - and i'm stating it just like you stated about Vince Cable (then again I could say anyone could have predicted an economic downturn just as I could now and one would come within the next 30 years). Whether or not Farage predicted it or not is hardly the important part, the important part is that a country which is divided (yes its offically together but unable to form a government) is holding the EU presidency which has influence on 26 other nations and thus proves the point that artificial nation states do not work and can never work - Yugoslavia, the USSR, Belgium + various other examples in history of failed states in which politicians create them and they fall apart, often causing a lot of problems.

Setting the record straight, and boy has he been proven right.

[FlyingJesus]

I really hope Walloon becomes a country because it has a hilarious name

[alexxxxx]

they've been on the verge of splitting for years and years and years. I doubt anything will come of it apart from possibly more autonomy and perhaps less national spending (a common complaint of those in flanders is that a lot of money flows south due to flanders being stronger financially.

That map is false by the way - Wallonia is does not include Brussels. Brussels is a separate region to both. Wallonia speaks french and so does the majority of brussels, but it is not a part of it.

and i can't believe someone neg repped me for an accidental quote of all of the first post, honestly.

[GommeInc]

Meh, Belgium has always been quite an unstable country, as far as I've always seen it at least. Nigel Farage has a slight point when he said it was a bit of a "non-country", because it barely understands itself in a political light which is where the EU Presidency controversy came into the picture, though it was wrong to assume that a Belguim cannot do anything remotely political with regards to the countries around it. As far as I see it, it's up to them. The Government cannot be that amazing if they cannot control their citizens, especially when the focus seems to be between flemish and french belguims