Le Pen Plots Against Belgium

[jimmy olsen]

Death to Belgium!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/21/belgium-walloons-french-front-national

Let Belgium's Walloons join France, Front National leader suggests

Marine Le Pen says on Belgian national day that Paris should consider turning francophone half of politically riven Belgium into French region

   
    * Kim Willsher in Paris
    * guardian.co.uk, Thursday 21 July 2011 17.26 BST

When are foreigners not foreign, but Gallic compatriots in all but name? When they are French-speaking neighbours with a penchant for moules and frites, it seems.

France's far-right Front National party is prepared to soften its notoriously hard line against immigrants in the case of its francophone Belgian cousins.

Not that the party leader, Marine Le Pen, is suggesting all French-speaking Walloons come to France en masse; simply that Paris might consider taking on half of Belgium.

In a provocative statement issued on Belgium's national day, Le Pen said if Belgium could not remain united, Paris should "extend a hand" to the francophones and suggest they be allowed to decide whether to become a region of France.

The idea would be laughable if the situation in Belgium were not so ridiculous. The Dutch-speaking north, where the Flamands live, and the French-speaking south, home to the Walloons, have been unable to agree on how the country should be run since an election last year. Brussels, a largely French-speaking enclave in the Flemish area, is particularly contested.

As a result of the deadlock, the Belgians have now been without a government for more than 400 days. "The political situation that Belgium is going through is getting worse, appears to have no solution and has left both Walloons and Flamands in a terrible uncertainty," Le Pen wrote in a statement.

"Nobody is rejoicing at this situation and everyone in France shares the Belgians' concerns. At this time of the Belgian national day, it is nevertheless the responsibility of France and the French to extend a hand to the Walloons.

"If Belgium is going to split, if Flanders pronounces its independence, which seems more and more credible a possibility, the French republic would do well to welcome Wallonia to its heart."

Le PenShe said there were "historic and fraternal links that unite our two people", and these links were "too strong for France to abandon the Walloons". She said any such plan should be agreed by a referendum in both countries.

In his eve-of-holiday address, King Albert II urged Belgians to find a political solution to their differences and to rapidly form a government. "Our current situation is causing concern among our partners and may even damage our position at the heart of Europe, and even call into question the European construction itself, already undermined by eurosceptics and populists," the 77-year-old monarch said.

Belgians accused Le Pen of fuelling nationalism. "It's a Pandora's Box and will simply fuel the cause of autonomists ... those from Flanders, Savoy, Brittany, Corsica, the Basque region will be jumping for joy," wrote one commentator on the Belgian newspaper Le Soir's website.

Another wrote: "There will never be a French Wallonia ... there has never been an example in history of two peoples being united on the basis of their language, except Germany and that was one nation to start with. The Walloons are too proud to fall for such a low idea."

However, another wrote: "For all those who predict that an attachment with France will never happen, I ask you not to react in an emotional way. Open the debate so at last we can discuss this."

After 400 days without a government, French-speaking Belgians might just be prepared to consider Le Pen's offer. On the other hand, it might persuade them to come to an agreement with their Flemish compatriots.

[Viking]

The Flemings have been trying to get rid of Wallonia for generations now. The francophile welfare moochers remain stubbornly loyal belgian nationalists.

The really funny thing is that the Belgian Front National is a Unionist Party (francophile, obviously)

[jimmy olsen]

Wouldn't they be able to mooch more off France than Belgium?

[Viking]

Wouldn't they be able to mooch more off France than Belgium?

In Belgium they can mooch off both the flemings and the EU, in France, a nation of moochers, they can only mooch off the germans.

But, seriously, I hope they both lose.

[Duque de Bragança]

The French right-wing is not interested in Walloons since they vote socialist no matter what. Marine Le Pen is just talking out her arse to get some attention but in a different way than her father.

When are foreigners not foreign, but Gallic compatriots in all but name? When they are French-speaking neighbours with a penchant for moules and frites, it seems.
France's far-right Front National party is prepared to soften its notoriously hard line against immigrants in the case of its francophone Belgian cousins.

Guess what, Moules and frites are very popular in northern France where Marine is specially popular and while Walloons are foreigners that does not mean they are immigrants much less métèques, even by the Front National. 
The Guardian is only good at cheap shots against the Front National which isn't exactly hard to criticise.

[Grey Fox]

Wouldn't they be able to mooch more off France than Belgium?

In Belgium they can mooch off both the flemings and the EU, in France, a nation of moochers, they can only mooch off the germans.

But, seriously, I hope they both lose.

Mooching leads to a much better quality of life then not mooching.

[Viking]

Wouldn't they be able to mooch more off France than Belgium?

In Belgium they can mooch off both the flemings and the EU, in France, a nation of moochers, they can only mooch off the germans.

But, seriously, I hope they both lose.

Mooching leads to a much better quality of life then not mooching.

Qui est John Galt? Quebescum

[Grey Fox]

Wouldn't they be able to mooch more off France than Belgium?

In Belgium they can mooch off both the flemings and the EU, in France, a nation of moochers, they can only mooch off the germans.

But, seriously, I hope they both lose.

Mooching leads to a much better quality of life then not mooching.

Qui est John Galt? Quebescum

Where's your mandatory 5 weeks vacation? Drunkscum

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Wouldn't they be able to mooch more off France than Belgium?

In Belgium they can mooch off both the flemings and the EU, in France, a nation of moochers, they can only mooch off the germans.

But, seriously, I hope they both lose.

In belgium only the flemish lose. No wonder with a constitution that basically says that 49>50+1.

But yeah, La Pen is talking bollocks. Wallonia is more to the left than Belarus. they probably wouldn't last a day in France which is quite to the right from their perspective

Soit, France can take all belgian debt too (only at some 400% of Walloon GDP). We'll take all that is rightfully ours, including Brussels (and if the francophone racists in Brussels do not like it that's their problem given that they've been incapable of living together with dutch-speaking people on an equal basis since this country was formed)

"The Case of the Counters started in 1970. In a municipality called Schaarbeek, communal services were deliberately organized in such a way that Flemings were discriminated against. Instead of the 1932-promised bilingualism of every official, only "bilingualism of the service" was being carried out. This meant that no individual official could be held to speak Dutch, but that "the service" would.

Off course, this lead to Flemings being sent from pillar to post: as long as a Fleming would be helped out in his own language by someone, it wouldn't matter by who. This led to situations whereby an official, unwilling to speak Dutch, could send the client to a colleague who could. But on the basis of the same argument this official could refuse to speak Dutch as well and send him trough to yet another colleague as well.

In the end, the Flemish citizen often ended up with a Flemish official working in the administration, able to speak Dutch and willing to help, but knowing nothing about the subject. Very often the Brussels francophones achieved their objective: Flemings switched to French in order to get it over with fast. The Flemish kept on protesting, and asked for the bilingualism of the person. (A feat that is still not acknowledged today).

In a cynical, crude way, a "solution" was found for this problem. The Flemish-hating mayor Roger Nols (1922-2004) divided the nine available counters in his town hall into three parts. Of the nine available counters where officials were servicing the public, the francophone citizens could use six, " the immigrants" two and the Flemings one. This practice was meant to be humiliating and intimidating. Granting just one counter to the Flemings, the implicit message was that they had even a lesser position in the community than immigrants, not having the Belgian nationality.

On the 2nd of June, 1976, the Belgian government finally intervened to end this shameful situation of factual apartheid that had lasted for six years. But it was merely a symbolic action. The Belgian minister of Internal Affairs, being part of a government ruled by consensus and the Rule of Parity, had a difficult time condemning the actions of mayor Nols. If he would go too far – e.g by depriving him of office – this would immediately cause national problems.

Several policemen entered the communal house of Schaarbeek to restore the legal situation. After they were gone, the discrimination just continued. So even in the seventies, after a Language Struggle of more than a hundred and fifty years, Flemings still had to fight for their civil rights. But, knowing the general framework, it is like Don Quichote fighting windmills: even today Flemings are considered as strangers. A Fleming indeed is less than an immigrant: he an intruder in a city that was Dutch-speaking in its origins. Perversion peaks in Brussels."

[Valmy]

Ah ethnic douchebaggery competitions.  They just never go out of style over there do they?