Brilliant little Belgium

It’s high time we stopped mocking Belgium, and learned from our more efficient, happier European neighbour

FIRST POSTED AUGUST 10, 2009

Question: which European country has a right-wing Prime Minister whose sister is a communist politician? Answer: Belgium. Who else?

Belgium is easily the quirkiest country in western Europe, if not the entire continent. For long periods in the past two years it has been without a government. It is plagued with linguistic divisions and has often appeared to be on the verge of breaking-up. And for decades it has been the butt of jokes, such as the hoary old challenge to 'name ten famous Belgians'.

Yet, for all of that, Belgium works - far better than Britain. This is ironic, given that Britain has strong historical ties to Belgium and came to the country's rescue when it was invaded by Germany in 1914.

Belgium has much in common with Britain: it's a densely-populated former imperial power with long-standing internal divisions and could easily provide a model for Britain if our political elite were not so insular, or ideologically blinkered, in their outlook.

The first step to make Britain more like Belgium would be a new voting system

The first step in making Britain more like Belgium would be to change the electoral system. In Britain, too much store is placed on political stability. In Belgium, where a form of proportional representation operates, governments come and go with far greater frequency than in Britain. But does the country actually suffer from this greater political instability? There is no evidence to suggest that it does. On the contrary, proportional representation means that more parties have a chance of winning seats - 11 different parties won seats in Belgium's 2007 general election - helping to increase public interest in politics.

Then there's foreign policy. Belgium, like Britain, is a founder member of Nato. But unlike Britain, it knows when to say no to Washington's military adventures - as it did at the time of the Iraq war in 2003.

Belgium's constructive attitude towards European co-operation also puts Britain to shame. While the British Thatcherite right sees the continent - and its more socially-orientated form of Rhineland mixed-economy capitalism - as the source of all evil,

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The majority of Belgians are bi-lingual or tri-lingual with higher education. The majority of Brits are knuckledraggers who can't even write their own language without basic mistakes. That's why Britain can never become like Belgium.

Posted by Neil McGowan at 1:45pm on August 11, 2009

First things first... 1: Rene Magritte (Painter) 2: Baudoin 1st (King - & all the others, we didn't have so many of them, all quite memorable !) 3: Jaco van Dormael (director) 4: Herge (creator of Tintin - Should I include the creator of the Smurfs & so on ? ) 5: Johnny Hallyday (singer. & though he did take the french nationality at some point, he is of Belgian origin) 6: Jacques Brel (singer) 7: James Ensor (painter) 8: Amelie Nothomb (writer) 9: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne (writer-directors) 10: Victor Horta (Architect) & I could go on with more painters (Rubens, Delvaux, Jacques Charlier), singers (Soeur Sourire, Plastic Bertrand, Mauranne, Sandra Kim), Sports(wo)men (Eddy Merckx, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Enzo Sciffo, the Saive Brothers, Xavier Malisse... ) directors (Stijn Coninx) & actors (Jean-Claude van Damme - hum ! - , Cecile de France,Emilie dequenne, & even Audrey Hepburn !) & even killers (Marc Dutroux - not to be proud of, sure, but it is an unfortunate reality !)... So, not a too difficult game I believe..! Then there's the rest... Mr Clark has obvioously done some research for his article, but he clearly hasn't spent much time with the locals ! If all of the facts are indeed true, it's a superficial truth we read about, a paper-printed one... If we indeed have a greater frequency of coming & going governments & politicians seem less interested by the political stability of the country, maybe it's because it seems very obvious to everyone that it's because they're more interested in their own stability in the government itself ! If you look closer at the result of each elections, it's just like a card game, redistributed everytime. Take the same ones, & start over, just at a different post ! The number of years it takes to have new faces in government is proportional to the number of years it took those people to climb power ladders one step at a time. & most of the time, by the time they finally arrived, they're already corrupted by power & interested with only one thing, remaining where they finally got, forgetting why they started climbing in the first place ! Our government is kind of a joke... & the fact we have 4 governments (one per region plus one for the country) is the biggest belgian joke ever ! Aside from politics, let's talk prices... If lodging in Brussels - though prices have gone up tremendously since the euro came in the picture, & not proportionally to what people earn - is one of the cheapest for a European capital city, Belgians are the European residents paying their gaz, elctricity, internet connections & so on at the highest price on the continent ! Public transport, if mostly efficient, has also been getting outrageously expensive in the last few years, not at all pushing people to take trains or buses instead of their cars, thus creating a dangerous spiral. Not enough passengers= not enough money to pay all the employees= raising prices to pay employees, thus losing even more customers... Belgium is a country with a history for NOT thinking long term ! Wether in economy, social aid, or immigration politics. As for smoking, it HAS been banned from public spaces & restaurants. It is allowed in bars only if less than 30% of its revenues are from food. But as it has been in discussions for quite a while, it's only a matter of time now before smoking is banned everywhere but at home..! & if we are spared the public anouncements like in France or Britain, maybe it's because, small as we are, less targeted as we are ( even with Nato & EU here & all !), belgians are a lot less paranoid than their neighbors... & these are just a few examples... So even though it definitely IS a country quite comfortable to live in, compared to some, in the rest of the world - & mind you, I AM happy enough to live here - , There could be quite a lot of ameliorations to be done so it'd be the 'oh so perfect' country described in the article...

Posted by Olivier Valkeners at 2:30pm on August 11, 2009

My goodness, mr. Clark is a Belgium fan. Much obliged. You know, the country I live in is a very bizarre kind of country. No wonder surrealism is our middle name. My fellow citizen Olivier Valkeners has given you an exhaustive number of typical Belgian facts of daily life and Belgian heroes. Perhaps he has forgotten one of the greatest: mr. Hercule Poirot. Yes, the fictive detective of your Agatha Christie. We Belgians all love him dearly. He represents our country almost to perfection. What you have to remember above all is that Belgium is the unchallenged world champion of compromise. We even make compromises about compromise. From time to time all this is getting on our own nervous system but, believe me, it keeps us rather succesfully from running havoc among each other. We are used to moderation in practically everything we do or say. We even moderate our own existence. In our flag should be written the following sentence: Ceci n'est pas une nation/Dit is geen natie/This is no nation. By the way, our Kim Clijsters is striking back, folks. And she's hitting it hard, very much un-Belgian like, without compromising. Proud to be a Belgian. As long it shall last. And finishing this comment in style: my greatest respect for the Great Old Soldier, mr. Harry Patch, who bravely joined my long deceased grandfather in the miry Flemish trenches during the Great Old War. Mr. Patch recently said he never quite understood why young men had to fight each other. It is beyond comprehension, for sure. But I know why he helped defending my tiny surrealistic country: he believed in justice and freedom. And he and his comrades will live for ever in our Belgian hearts.

Posted by William Vananderoye at 7:44pm on August 11, 2009

Welcome to the Sily Season. The article may as well have been titled "If on Britain could be like any other country in the world except America." The grass is always greener elsewhere.

Posted by Mark Hale at 9:08pm on August 11, 2009

I'm sure Belgium is lovely and well run, but with one tenth of employment in Belgium accounted for, directly and indirectly, by EU and similar organisations, I'm not sure we're not comparing apples and oranges here.

Posted by Fred Smith at 9:09pm on August 11, 2009

I just don't get this from start to finish. Belgium is a small country at the heart of Europe. It has always had a split personality with a Flemish and Waloon identity, so morphing into a european identity is probably easier particularly when you consider the economic benefits of hosting the EU commision and associated bodies. In fact, Belgium was an artificial construct from day one that was part created by the British to deny the French grater control of the Channel. Belguims' record on colonialism was truly shocking but fortunately never amounted to much. The record of 'plucky' Belgium during the Great War was patchy not only were their casualties less as a percentage of population than the British, but throughout the Belgium King flirted with the Kaiser until Germany's defeat was inevitable. Britain, due to its colonial past and its size cannot play the same game as Belgium there is too much baggage. It might be that the Belgium transport system is better and there are some beautiful cities in Belgium, but personally, I am happy where I am in London.

Posted by James at 5:37pm on August 12, 2009

Mr Neil McGowan certainly has a point when he states: "The majority of Belgians are bi-lingual or tri-lingual with higher education. The majority of Brits are knuckledraggers who can't even write their own language without basic mistakes." ... and this is certainly proven by, I assume, his fellow countryman Mark Hale (above), who suggested: "If on Britain could be like any other country in the world except America." as a suggestion for the title line of this article. Is there anyone [Belgian, perhaps] who can translate that suggestion into comprehensible English for me? It just does not make sense to a chronologically advanced German curmudgeon like me, but I suspect, this bafflement has nothing to do with me or my lack of mastery of the lingua terra. Sigh!

Posted by Michael Reinelt at 5:32pm on August 13, 2009

Belgians receive so much employment and financial largesse courtesy of the EU and therefore our hard earned taxes, it's no wonder they can feel so relaxed about what the author seems to see as their progressive attitude towards 'Europe'. Proportional representation though. As a member of the British National Party, I certainly like the sound of that!

Posted by Jerome Peter at 9:04pm on August 14, 2009