Meanwhile in Belgium...

[Verily]

Belgium, soon to be the independent nations of Flanders and Wallonia (well, maybe the Walloons will petition to join France).

What would they do with Brussels, though?

[Verily]

No. Furthermore, they're back to the farcical idea that Leterme should be the one negotiating.

[Verily]

When will people really start to be pissed and it will be violent?

Violent? Probably not ever. Eventually Flanders will declare independence and that will be that.

[Verily]

I actually support Flemish independence now after hearing the "horror-stories" of Belgian governmental infrastructure.

Which is ironic, given that the entire system was originally put into place to appease the Flemish. (Now, of course, it's the Walloons who don't want change.)

[Verily]

Just wondering, does any particular francophone party have a vested interest in those voters? I would guess by the fact that they're suburban than the Liberals are especially reluctant to let them go, which would help to explain why they've been unwilling to form a government without the Social Democrats (which otherwise has confused me).

[Verily]

I don't understand why the Flemish douchebag parties are doing this when they need to form a government.

Because Leterme doesn't really want to form a government, he wants Flemish independence. He's not exactly a nice guy.

[Verily]

The King has stepped in to make Leterme play nice, and of course Leterme refused.

More clarification: CD&V and N-VA have refused to take state reform off of the table despite the king's request. Vlaams Belang obviously will not negotiate with anyone without promises of heavy state reform.

[Verily]

Brussels could be a city-state! City-states are the best.

In that case, all its suburbia would become officially Flemish, with strict rules that would make flee French speakers, Brussels could have more troubles controlling its suburbia generally speaking too, not good for its development and health.

I really wonder what could be the outcome there, seems it could miss a 'big thing', a major event for that the splitting actually occurs, but dunno, I'm not into Belgian subtleties that much...

As a city, that would probably be good for it. It would encourage density and discourage expansion of suburbs.

I also doubt that the strict Flemish language laws would remain in place for long once Flanders and Wallonia end their arranged marriage.

[Verily]

I believe there are problems with Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde that prevent that.

Yeah, the Belgian Constitutional Court ruled that elections are unconstitutional until the Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde problem is solved.

The what?   [/ignorant American]

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde is an electoral district containing the city of Brussels and the surrounding suburbs in Flanders called Halle-Vilvoorde. It is the only electoral district in Belgium in which the voters can choose whether to vote for Flemish parties or French-speaking parties.

Halle-Vilvoorde is included in the electoral district because, while they are in Flanders, they are increasingly French-speaking and are primarily in the orbit of Brussels (which is predominantly French-speaking) rather than the rest of Flanders.

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde has existed for quite some time and was considered a fairly reasonable compromise. However, the Flemish parties, particularly the ultraconservatives (NVA) and the fascists (Vlaams Belang), began to agitate against its existence about a decade ago. (The other Flemish parties also support the dissolution of the electoral district, although their fervor for the issue is often tepid.) And, unfortunately, they have a rather good argument...

The Constitution of Belgium forbids the existence of cross-linguistic community electoral districts. Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde contains parts of officially unilingually Flemish Flanders as well as officially bilingual Brussels, making it unconstitutional. The courts found this to be the case shortly after the most recent election.

However, the French-speakers in Halle-Vilvoorde, who would be prevented from voting for parties of their choice by the elimination of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, strongly oppose any attempt to dissemble the electoral district. Because those voters serve as a major part of their own supporters, the French-speaking parties unanimously oppose the dissolution of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde as well. They have successfully blocked any legislation meant to split the district.

Therefore, the legislature cannot dissolve Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, but the district is unconstitutional, so any further election conducted with it in place is void.

(IMO, the Francophone solution, to annex the predominantly French-speaking areas of Halle-Vilvoorde to Brussels and then split the district, is quite reasonable, but the Flemish oppose it because it creates geographic continuity between Wallonia and Brussels, which the French-speakers could use to kill innocent Flemish babies, or something like that.)