Welcome to The Flemish Republic
Why the Belgian federation should be dissolved and Flanders should become an independent state. |
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 Introduction
Belgium: A Prison of Peoples
The Kingdom of Belgium consists of three entirely different peoples with their own languages, cultures and traditions: Dutch-speaking Flemings in the North (Flanders), French-Speaking Walloons in the South (Wallonia), and a tiny community of Germans in nine Eastern municipalities (the Eastern Cantons). The latter were ceded by Germany after the First World War and are an administrative part of Wallonia.
Apart from the capital (Brussels) and a few municipalities along the borders between Flanders and Wallonia and between the Francophone and the German territories, the Belgians live not in mixed areas but in unilingual regions. A series of five constitutional reforms between 1970 and 2001 transformed Belgium from a centralised unitary state into an officially federal state, with cultural autonomy for its Dutch-, French- and German-speaking linguistic Communities and a limited form of political and economic autonomy (with all social security issues explicitely excluded) for the Regions Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.
The different Communities and Regions were each given their own legislatures and executives. As a consequence, Belgium today has no fewer than six parliaments and governments. Apart from the Federal bicameral legislature (consisting of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate), there are also legislatures and executives for the Brussels Region, the Walloon Region, the German-speaking Community, the Francophone Community and for Flanders. Because the Flemish Region and Community overlap, the parliaments and governments of the Flemish Region and the Dutch-speaking Community have merged.
The Only Belgians
Unlike Switzerland, which is a multilingual but mononational state, Belgium is a multinational state. Unlike the Swiss, the Belgians do not exist as a nation or as a people. Although Belgium’s citizens have Belgian identity cards and passports, they are either Flemings (6 million), Walloons (3 million) or Germans (70,000). The only place where a feeling of “Belgianness” exists, is in the capital, Brussels (1 million inhabitants).
The 350,000 Muslim immigrants (of whom 200,000 Moroccans, 100,000 Turks and 13,000 Algerians), live mainly in Brussels and in the large Flemish and Walloon cities. Apart from their own mother tongue, most of them speak French. When they become Belgian citizens, they feel Belgian rather than Flemish or Walloon. These “new Belgians” are said to be the only true Belgians, apart from the King and the Brussels establishment.
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