l get that Flanders wont probably separate from Belgium, but can someone explain why? I tried googling it but i got a lot of mixed informations.

+ As far as im aware NVA is currently running Belgium and they are pro separation, if they are actually pro independence, then why dont they separate?

Edit: https://youtu.be/Sl5LYS9XXas can someone debunk this guys claim about belgium?

Thanks.

16 comments

  3. All the ones that say Brussels. Why would Flanders want it? It’s mostly french anyway and run by the PS

  5. Because reality exists and daydreaming about some hypothetical flemish utopia is a far stretch from that

    It’s a populist selling point with no practical way to implement

  6. Because there is no major support to do so. A lot of people vote right wing but not or only to a lesser extent because of separatist motives.

    N-VA is not part of the federal government but of the Flemish government btw.

    Edit:grammar

  7. I honestly don’t think Flanders will ever actually want to become completely independent.

    As much as Flanders loses in handouts to Wallonia (I have no idea how much it actually is, but it’s a common topic in these discussions), declaring independence and starting out as a new country would be immensely more expensive, in my opinion.

    Here’s why:

    1. Flanders would have to set up its own version of federal organizations and powers, including its own tax bureau, train operator, energy networks, healthcare financing system, defense, border police and intelligence, customs, diplomacy, a judiciary, etc.

    2. Flanders would lose all the benefits of belonging to the E.U. This includes subsidies to artists, farmers, researchers and more, preferential trade tariffs with third-party countries, free trade and transit within Europe, university exchange programs, scholarships, etc. This would make producing stuff and exporting/importing goods a lot more expensive. Flanders products won’t be bought by anyone else because they won’t be competitive (what can Flanders produce that any neighboring country can’t?), and Flanders won’t be able to afford importing stuff it needs (Flanders is far from self-sufficient). Which means the general living standards would be degraded.

    Another point to be made is that the EU would never allow for a nationalist movement to triumph. Spain, France, Italy all have regions with separatist movements, so they’d never condone secession, let alone secession with the possibility of rejoining the union.

    This also means that Flanders would never be recognized by other powers as a country, which means that it will be a total pariah.

    3. Secession would create a huge wave of instability and uncertainty, and corporations hate that. Multinational companies would stop investing and a lot of them would just leave Flanders because of the instability, and move across the border to the Netherlands or Germany or France. And Belgian business owners would probably move their assets to Wallonia or elsewhere in Europe. In general, the Flemish population would become poorer.

    4. There are tons of Flemish businesses that operate on both sides of the language border in Belgium and also in Brussels. Big and small. I don’t think all of these will be willing to sacrifice a huge chunk of their business base just for the sake of independence. Think about the big supermarket chains (e.g. Colruyt), breweries, food producers, realtors, gas stations, etc.

    5. Belgium, as every other country, has huge debt, and so do all regions. Solving that would be a nightmare.

    6. Most Flemish people don’t want to secede or can’t be bothered. NV-A doesn’t have independence at the center of its agenda anymore, and VB just uses the idea as hollow propaganda for the most extremist voters.

    Anyway, I’m all for a serious debate about how to give back more power to the regions, and to have as few federal competences as possible. I’ve living in Belgium for well over a decade, and I’m in contact with people from the three regions, and I’ll be the first to admit that the country doesn’t make any sense. Walloons and Flemings don’t have almost anything in common anymore culturally speaking, and let’s not even start on Brussels folks and the German speaking Walloons.

    But what I can’t stand is far-right hollow secessionist propaganda, that promises a magic solution to all problems, and that blames everything that’s wrong on Wallonia, while in reality independence wouldn’t solve anything, and the roots of problems are more complex.

  8. I don’t know where you got that from but your video doesn’t support your claim.

    The NVA is not currently running Belgium. And even if they were running Flanders it would be in a coalition.

    Splitting away from Belgium would mean leaving the EU. Then they would have to solve the status of Brussels and its extended periphery. Among a million other things.

    They might have to do a refferendum about this. And people will probably not agree on such a refferendum without knowing what it entails and the real outcomes. After seeing the disaster that was the Brexit. Even if a majority of Flemish wanted to leave. They would need some reassurances.

  11. lmao all the nva cares about is sucking votes from the belang and pandering to corporations

    + the nva isn’t currently running belgium

  12. NVA and VB get rich by just making people believe we would be living in heaven on earth once we get rid of all these lazy Walloons, non pureblood whites, everything left of center and if possible also the center, and then everybody else whose cost is higher than his contribution.

    The problem however is that when their dream would come true, problems are not automatically fixed, and they know that. They know they have no solution for Brussels, or for all the people that live in either part of the country and work in another part of it. Oh, and they never mention the cost of the divorce, I wonder why…

    They know that even amongst their own voters there is no majoraty at all to split, so they just let things rot and blame the others. And as long as they get away with this not a thing will change.

    The simple truth however is that the difference between an average guy from the north and an average guy from the south is futile, yet the difference between an average guy in Belgium and a typical nationalistic nuthead remains pretty big…

    Hence why we’ll probably stay together, it may not be the perfect marriage but we share more than we like to admit.

  13. I can explain why it WILL happen (though maybe not in our lifetime):

    Separate media landscape and no binding factors between the two halves of the country combined with a lot of animosity as both restrict eachothers political freedom

    It’s inevitable to fall apart eventually and history shows us (so far) a solid march towards that end

  14. 1. Because people are inherently against change and this would be a hige change.

    2. It also isnt really that easy because belgium has a very complicted system that on purpose slows down any such reforms, to split belgium you would need the argeement of every entity in the country and probably make a deal with the EU.

    3. N-VA isnt running belgium , they are part of a coalition on the flemish region, the federal, brussels, walloon, francophone they arent even part of.

  15. Why would you want to split the country you’re ruling to get a smaller one ? All major political and economical decisions are taken by Flemish people. All major corporations and administrations are led by Flemish people. You’d be very dumb to lose that power and settle for an even smaller country in the european landscape where Belgium still has a voice.
    All you would have left is maybe the richest region in Europe with a selfishness reputation. You think French and German leaders would keep looking at Flanders as political leaders after the split or rather as landlords who own the soil on which the port of Antwerp and some interesting companies are located ?

  16. A couple of days ago I read a Reddit article making a very good case for abandoning regionalisation and streamlining Belgium administrations into one country saving on many overlapping and competing competences

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