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Post by lagatta on Nov 20, 2018 15:01:09 GMT
I was wondering if that visit got any fawning coverage in those antiquaited publications that focus on Crowned Heads, such as Point de Vue and Majesty.
Or perhaps simply in leading Belgian media...
Suppose there is a convoy of limousines and military vehicles, not simply taking the TGV which is so much faster.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 20, 2018 15:09:04 GMT
I think that Macron almost always takes the Thalys to go to Brussels, as Hollande did before him. However for a state visit with other ministers and a scad of journalists, it is not impossible that they flew there. I did not find the information. Going by road is not secure enough besides being the slowest way to get there.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 2, 2018 9:32:13 GMT
They came by plane apparently.
We are in a crisis that is becoming more major by the day and could provoke the fall of the government. Cause is 'le pacte migratoire' - a global agreement on migrants. Promoted by UN this agreement - non binding - would actually organize the cooperatin between countries about it. Our right wing facholike minister of migration (!) Theo Franken refuses to hear about it and is supported by the right wing NVA (and of course, the exterme right Vlaams Belang), whihc became quite isolated on the subject. Thanks to these guys, we would be like Hungary and Austria the only EU countries to reject this agreement... Prime minister who suddenly appears to have grown balls is fighting NVA and wants the agreement signed.
Since all frenchspeaking parties are ok with the agreeemnt, it reinorces the refusal of the NVA, by adding a commununautary aspect to it. And the proximity of elections aso means that everybody will play tougher than usual.
But we still don't burn cars on the issue...
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Post by bjd on Dec 2, 2018 9:38:53 GMT
I saw on the news the other evening that cars were burning in Brussels with protests by Belgian "gilets jaunes". Unless, of course, they took the Thalys to Brussels from Paris.
Haven't Italy and Poland also rejected the agreement on migration?
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 2, 2018 11:36:10 GMT
Yes, the gilets jaunes even burned a police van in Brussels...
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 2, 2018 13:41:30 GMT
That is distressing news, as is Whatagain's report on the governmental crisis. It's particularly worrisome when countries such as Belgium, which I see as stable and politically sedate on the world stage, seem to lean toward the particularly ugly populism sweeping the globe.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 2, 2018 14:37:08 GMT
On another site, someone living in the Netherlands reported that the phenomenon of gilets jaunes has spread there as well.
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Post by amboseli on Dec 2, 2018 19:00:49 GMT
Haven't Italy and Poland also rejected the agreement on migration? Italy is against but they haven't decided yet. Poland rejected.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 10, 2018 14:02:28 GMT
Our government is now in minority. Didn't know we could do it. N-VA left the government, that now doesn't represent the 50% required... more people in oppositin than in gov.
Most analysts say it is a pre-election game. Starts well...
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 10, 2018 14:23:21 GMT
Charles Michel probably sneaked off to a training seminar in Italy, the land of minority governments.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 10, 2018 16:16:06 GMT
Yes spot on. With right or far right in the north and left or far left in the south. And we don't even have one common language. But at least we don't look like fachos at Marrakesh
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 19, 2018 5:26:53 GMT
And so Charles Michel has fallen... What next?
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Post by amboseli on Dec 19, 2018 9:34:02 GMT
We don't know. Charles has fallen but the king didn't approve the resignation (?) of our government yet. Oh well, we can do without a government. We have proven that before.
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Post by whatagain on May 25, 2019 10:20:13 GMT
Well we vote tomorrow. Campaign has been relatively quiet and uninteresting wit a lot of populist smell. We vite fir the region the federal and the Europeans. I managed to select 3 different parties to vote for and am surprised I am not the only One. Predictions are that the regional coalitions that will emerge fast will probably make it very difficult to find a federal coalition. Translation : we expect total mess from these elections.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 25, 2019 11:13:35 GMT
I saw a number or articles mentioning that Belgians often voted for different lists for municipal, regional and national elections. It's happening a bit in France, too, particularly since the old traditional parties blew up in 2017. But we only have the European elections tomorrow...
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Post by whatagain on May 27, 2019 6:59:16 GMT
Results are known and it is worse than I expected. I had expected to see Flanders going more right and Wallonia more left. However far right in Flanders is now about 18%. So close to half Flemish voted for independence of Flanders and Wallonia goes more towards far left. Now we are betting on how much time to find a coalition for the federal. If ever.
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Post by bjd on May 27, 2019 7:49:07 GMT
While I was looking for the overall European results this morning, on the map of Europe, Belgium was painted "far right", even more so than the FN all over France.
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Post by whatagain on May 27, 2019 17:25:28 GMT
Yup. Frenchspeaking friends are all upset. What I hear most now is ' they want to get rid of us ' well I am ok I don't want to have anything anymore with far right extremists and half fachos.
Will take some time to cool down but yes I will not speak Flemish anymore. Those Flemish who do t like us will not answer in french so I'll know from start. I know. Childish.
As for walloons they are hardly better always voting left left and left.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 27, 2019 17:51:54 GMT
Is there is still a "rattachiste" party on the ballot? I wouldn't think that merging with France would be as appealing as it might once have been.
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Post by lagatta on May 27, 2019 20:23:56 GMT
And I'm sure those Flemings don't want to join the Netherlands.
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Post by whatagain on May 28, 2019 9:20:54 GMT
Absolutely no chance. Flemish and Dutch don't get along. Plus the Flemish are not going to marry somebody else if they divorce us ! Kerouac there was a RWF. Rattachement Wallonie france. Don't know what happened to them.
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Post by amboseli on May 29, 2019 17:55:41 GMT
Will take some time to cool down but yes I will not speak Flemish anymore. Those Flemish who do t like us will not answer in french so I'll know from start. I know. Childish. Huh??? I speaak French wherever I need to. If you talk in French to me, I'll answer you in French. Pourquoi pas? Je n'ai aucun problème avec les Wallons, même pas avec les Bruxellois qui refusent de parler flamand. Aucun problème. Childish, indeed. And causing more hate between Flemish and Walloon. Why? WHY???
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Post by amboseli on May 29, 2019 17:56:35 GMT
And I'm sure those Flemings don't want to join the Netherlands. True. If this were ever the case, I'd move to another country.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 29, 2019 18:17:07 GMT
Feelings run very high in Belgium, and I have to admit that it is a mystery to the rest of us. Both factions (sorry to ignore the German speaking minority) appear to spread a number of mistruths about economics, language, immigrants, etc.
Looking at this from the outside, I still think that one of the most important things to do would be to permit a complete linguistic census again and start negotiating various points from there. I am well aware that Flanders is afraid of becoming a minority since the birthrate is lower than in Wallonia, but it is important to face the facts, such as Brussels being 94% francophone.
I really don't think that the Walloons are hoping to steal Flemish money or that the Flemish think that the Walloons are all lazy social benefit profiteers, but until real information becomes available, there is absolutely no way to start to repair the relationship.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 29, 2019 19:01:19 GMT
I had no idea that the rift in Belgium was so extreme! It hardly appears to be another Irish Troubles situation, but does sound very hot.
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Post by amboseli on May 29, 2019 19:15:16 GMT
I'm pretty shocked by whatagain's words. That's all I want to say about it.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 29, 2019 19:23:00 GMT
Whatagain is a completely charming and reasonable person, but he tends to blow off steam from time to time.
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Post by whatagain on May 30, 2019 11:14:12 GMT
Yup. And I did express my feelings to my Flemish friends. In Flemish. I won't speak Flemish with strangers but of course I will with friends. I could have been that clearer. But yes I am considering now that half of the Flemish want to get rid of us. And I don't like it. And unfortunately for nice people like amboseli a lot of frenchspeaking are reacting the same way. We are under the impression that trop is te veel. Now I'll come back in a few weeks when I cooled down. My daughter said that it was not a big deal that we missed a party thrown by her godmother (she is Flemish) since a good chunk of those present (young guys) would be far right voters. Emotion runs high indeed.
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Post by whatagain on Aug 22, 2019 9:22:45 GMT
So here we are about 3 months after elections. Still no Flemish govt and no federal one. N-Va and PS still refusé to talk to each other and blaming the other. Now there are talks about going back to vote since it is impossible to create a federal government. If it proves true I am not sure I will vote. Probably stupid but fed up.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2019 18:15:34 GMT
I saw in today's paper that some members of the N-VA have suggested selling Wallonia to Trump for one euro if he can't get Greenland.
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