La Wallonie au bord de la faillite? “Monsieur De Wever se trompe”, répond Elio Di Rupo

La Wallonie au bord de la faillite? “Monsieur De Wever se trompe”, répond Elio Di Rupo from belgium

27 comments

  4. I no longer care about the technical reality of these situations.

    BDW’s statements isn’t fueled by concern or wanting the situation to be fixed.

    He says it because he knows it will make a group of people angry and get them to vote for him.

  5. >au bord de la faillite?

    I was under the impression their expenses vastly outgrew their income while their savings are nonexistent. So yes, they are not ‘borderline’ bankrupt, they are straightup bankrupt.

  6. The Clutch has spoken, Wallonia is fine and BDW is an ignorant.

    I could go on a rant how 60+ years of Left politics in Wallonia relegated it to a 3rd world country and the one time we had something else than the Left, they called 13 national strikes, but let’s not.

  10. Expatriate Belgian here (i left when i was 3yo), what hits me the most is how Belgium is still into this stupid Wallonia vs Flanders economical war… I’ve never seen such behavior with other countries.

    Love each others and stop comparing what can’t be compared ffs.

  12. We can criticise BDW all we want for making this statement (and his nationalistic fetish behind it) but he’s kind of right. Wallonia has a stagnant economy, which doesn’t seem to change any time soon. The political scene in Wallonia refuses to make the necessary changes (massively reducing spending is never popular).

    However, Elio is exhibiting exactly the kind of political arrogance that allows BDW to make such a statement. Instead of acknowledging the issue and starting a reform Elio replies: “Let’s not talk about this”.

    I think it’s even more arrogant of him to then say “look I don’t criticise Antwerp/Flanders”. There is a reason why BDW can criticise the Walloon economy–it’s shit. Of course, Elio can’t do the same about Flanders. But it’s still a lie, because Elio might not criticise the Flemish economy, but he certainly criticises other Flemish policies (with good reason, sometimes).

    So, in conclusion, BDW says something quite critical about the Walloon economy that could have been used as a catalyst to start a real debate about the change needed (but we all know that his reasons are much more selfish). Elio deflects the discussion by saying “let’s not talk about this, I don’t criticise you so you shouldn’t criticise me”. And what are we left with? Angry Flemings because their money is being wasted and arrogant Walloon (politicians) that refuse to modernise their economy.

    We could have used this as a cue to start a *Belgian* discussion about the economy (which, Elio alluded to but certainly didn’t mean it in ernst). We could have had a discussion about reforming the Walloon economy, so it can compliment (instead of sucking the tit of) the Flemish economy. We could have had a discussion about language (such as finally making Dutch a requirement in Wallonia as French is in Flanders) and create a real Belgian identity. We could have opened up the discussion as to whether federalism even works for us.

    But no. Instead we have two huge assholes provoking each other because it benefits them.

  15. Don’t bother, De Wever doesn’t want solidarity between Flanders and Wallonia but also not in Flanders, the only thing that matters is keeping his friends rich.

  16. Whether Flanders subsidises Wallonië is neither here nor there as the Kingdom is federal and this is what happens in federal countries like the US, Germany, Malaysia, etc. Regions transfer monies to other regions.

    Wallonia can find efficiencies. Grandiose new train stations are not needed as well as streamlining the French-speaking community (as defined by the Constitution).

    Why are there numerous ministers for the same role? Surely the Community’s competences can be transferred to Namur?

    Sitting on the fence and creating more bla, bla is not going to make the issues go away (allowing Bartje to poke the Flemish lion and fan the political flames).

  17. Di Rupo’s reaction makes my stomach turn. If you look at the numbers, Wallonia is in very deep distress. Starting 2024, the bijzondere financieringswet will come to an end and Wallonia will have to beg on its knees for money. Combine that with rising interest rates, inflation, unfundable pensions, and extremely low employment rates… We’re heading straight for disaster. PS is painfully aware of this, and so is NVA.

  19. I have a feeling that he’s laughing with the situation, like that there is no problem. Speaking in Magritte’s style, it would be “*ceci n’est pas un problème*”. He even forgets his own accords he has made with the last governmental reform (the “vlinderakkoord”) that the “financieringswet” has gotten adaptions as part of the reforms. The result of these adaptions is that his own government is going to receive 60 millions less per year, every year, after 2024. With the current state of his government (3% of their NI goes to paying debt interests?), the challenges they are having the coming years and the current inflation is a potential recipe for disaster, of which *we*, together are being pulled down in their downfall.

    I am ok with transfers (it is a pretty normal thing in most countries), but I am certainly not happy with what they do with it. This situation has been going on like this since Dehaene’s government and there is still no reflect to tackle this down.

    It must be nice to live like Magritte?

  22. A lot of good points are being brought up. What bothers me most about this whole thing is that all of this is not just a language thing. The problem is that while can chose how the money is being used in Flanders, we can’t do that for Wallonie. We have no say in how the money is being used and they have been running the same failing economic policies for decades. You will always have richer and poorer areas, Flanders has this too, but at least you can decide together how to fix it, but we can’t do that here and we’re supposed to just shut up about it?

  23. I remember hearing on Dutch radio that a fella named, I believe Bart De Wever, though I may be mistaken, wants Flanders to ‘unite’ with the Netherlands. Or was this another guy? I’m not hearing it brought up in the comments here. Anyway, I’m Dutch and I think that’s a terrible idea, though the majority of Dutch people are for it because the idea of making their country look bigger on a map gives them a boner.

  24. I mean, by that logic BDW might as well try and declare Antwerp an independent province. They have the GDP, they have the voters, why not just get rid of all the dead weight?

  27. What a fucking moron. I live in Wallonia and I CANNOT FUCKING believe the taxes we are paying in Belgium for these fuck nuts to shrug and give me the “belge”. Infuriates me

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