Belgium

Fragmentation, visible Western symbols, weak security: Brussels provides ideal conditions for jihad

On the streets of Brussels, there is anger and fear—about what has happened and what is still to come. Leah McLaren reports.

Less than six months after Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announced she was giving up the throne, the king in neighbouring Belgium today announced he was resigning after 20 years in the top job. Albert II is handing over the ultimate family job to his heir, Philippe, 53. In a nationwide broadcast, the king said his “age and health” prevented him from carrying out his duties.

Albert hasn’t had an easy time. His country has been increasingly divided between French-speaking Wallonia in the south and Dutch-speaking Flanders, which wants more autonomy. After a particularly bitter election in 2010, the country went 541 days without a government. In the end it was Albert who brokered a fragile coalition agreement, while the nation’s credit rating was downgraded by agencies worried that a nation at the heart of the European Union was crumbling.

And that political turmoil has been matched by Albert’s personal life, as the Associated Press reports:

“After he succeeded his devoutly Roman Catholic brother Baudouin in 1993, Albert became embroiled in a major royal scandal when he had to acknowledge the existence of an out-of-wedlock daughter, Delphine Boel, and suffered a major crisis in his marriage with Queen Paola. That issue came to the fore again this spring when Boel opened court proceedings to prove she is the king’s daughter.

Belgium’s foreign minister Didier Reynders seems a jolly fellow. He should be, given that Gérard Depardieu has chosen to live in Belgium and engage in a shouting match with the French government over French income taxes, which are high. Today Reynders gave an interview to the centre-right newspaper Le Figaro, where critics of the socialist president François Hollande are made to feel comfortable.

As countries go, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a tad on the small size, boasting just 2,586 sq. km and a population half that of Ottawa. But it does have a sovereign, Grand Duke Henri, and that means his nation gets to enjoy a royal wedding spectacular. And being a staunchly Catholic nation within Europe, the nuptials are a two-day affair.

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The country has been without a government for more than 200 days. The king thinks it’s shameful.

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The Czech Republic is expected to soon be ruled by a coalition of “losers.” Slovakia seems likely to follow. Belgium’s next government may well be a coalition that includes a separatist party. The Netherlands faces a number of coalition options, one of them rather controversial. Britain’s coalition prepares a tough new budget. Germany’s coalition teeters on the edge.

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