King of Belgium

The King of Belgium can sleep tonight. His country has been saved. It has a new government and won’t be chopped in two. For now, at least.

That’s right ~ Belgium ~ the European country. Yes, the small one that’s about the size of the state of Maryland.

This might not be the biggest story of the day ~ in fact it was buried deep in yesterday’s New York Times ~ but if you read the Clermont Blogger, you’ll know that Belgium has survived another major crisis. Here’s what I wrote in November in the post “Bye, Bye Belgium” ~

What's happening? Well, nothing new really for this unhappy bilingual nation except the problems are getting worse. The linguistic and culture divide (Dutch Flanders in the north and French Wallonia in the south) means separate schools, churches and media. Apparently, the important local parliamentary elections last June were inconclusive so... oops... there is no federal government. Now people on both side of the linguistic divide want to go their own way.

How long will this new government last? Apparently, a Brussels poll indicated that the incoming Prime Minister (a comprise nominee among five political parties ~ five!) had barely a 50% approval rating. Good luck, Pierre. Or was it Pieter?

Not to worry ~ I’ll check things out in person as I’ll be there in a few weeks.

Don't get me wrong about Belgium. There’s nothing like a plate of pommes frites avec mayonnaise and a cold Stella Artois [or Heineken in Flanders ... for impartiality].

I’d hate to be turned away next month from a local restaurant for Belgium bashing.