Ҫa Marche– Belgium without a Government

Belgian frites are still sizzling in hot oil, the Atomium is polished to a high shine, the traffic is backed up around Brussels as usual and the lights are still lighting on the motorways at night. But something is missing. “Our country is rather wilful”, say the Belgians themselves, with not a little pride in their voices as they talk about the crisis in their country, which has been without a government for more than a year. There is, furthermore, no end in sight to the prolonged political standoff. The Walloons and the Flemings are irreconcilably opposed so much so that Belgium, one of the founding states of the European Union, is threatening to tear apart at the seams and this doesn’t seem to be worrying very many Belgians: “Ça marche”, it’s working, they say instead. Astonished outsiders looking in are naturally asking the question: Doesn’t Belgium needs a government? The answers are to be found with town mayors who are not permitted to speak out and whose hands are tied anyway, in the ugliest city in the world and with families who want to leave Belgium for Luxembourg sooner rather than later. But also with those who have long since stopped caring about their politicians.

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