Unwilling
We broke the European record last Friday and are now up and running to break the world record currently still held by Iraq, for the country with the longest period without government.
And the thing is....we seem to have forgotten and do not care anymore. It's not like it's the topic of discussion at work or so. For months the Belgians don't seem to care much...hey we still have 5 more governments, why would we need a federal one? Maybe the financial speculators worry us a bit, but we surely enjoy watching our popular quizzes on tv.
We go from political crisis to political crisis up to the point that the national tv has a rule not to call it a "crucial" phase anymore as that word has lost any meaning. Other words that have become useless are "deadline", "last chance", "minimum requirements", ...
There was a time I enjoyed myself to report on these government negotiations in Belgium, making long series explaining the difficulties, triggers, tensions as a big puzzle to be analyzed and resolved. But the desperation, frustration and disgust took over me. There's only so much false stubbornness and egos one can take at the detriment of one's country. What can I say? This generation of politicians, at both sides of language border, is unwilling to compromise at any point, feeling constant electoral fever. For political parties such as the NVA, grown out of non-compromising militants tearing off themselves from their mother parties whenever disagreeing and profiting from their reputation not to give in, this isn't surprising but the way the other parties are willing to blow up negotiations constantly for their own image is simply shocking. A compromise by definition hurts everybody a little bit...and that's what kept this country in balance. But we've lost that skill. Demanding a compromise that only hurt the opponents is unrealistic. But realism and statesmanship and progress are no longer the goal, only profiling counts anymore.
So after a failed formation of Elio Di Rupo, a paper written by Bart De Wever but immediately thrown out by the others, and several months where Vandelanotte had to clear up the air again (during which weirdly enough he never put all the parties around the same table....they did not talk to each other directly over the last 2-3 months!?) and launched in my mind a fairly balanced proposal to work with, it was once again sent back to the paper bin by the other parties. The entire week I've read news papers and opinions and figured I was going to write a kick ass analysis of the entire situation.
Well guess what....I don't feel like it.
And the thing is....we seem to have forgotten and do not care anymore. It's not like it's the topic of discussion at work or so. For months the Belgians don't seem to care much...hey we still have 5 more governments, why would we need a federal one? Maybe the financial speculators worry us a bit, but we surely enjoy watching our popular quizzes on tv.
We go from political crisis to political crisis up to the point that the national tv has a rule not to call it a "crucial" phase anymore as that word has lost any meaning. Other words that have become useless are "deadline", "last chance", "minimum requirements", ...
There was a time I enjoyed myself to report on these government negotiations in Belgium, making long series explaining the difficulties, triggers, tensions as a big puzzle to be analyzed and resolved. But the desperation, frustration and disgust took over me. There's only so much false stubbornness and egos one can take at the detriment of one's country. What can I say? This generation of politicians, at both sides of language border, is unwilling to compromise at any point, feeling constant electoral fever. For political parties such as the NVA, grown out of non-compromising militants tearing off themselves from their mother parties whenever disagreeing and profiting from their reputation not to give in, this isn't surprising but the way the other parties are willing to blow up negotiations constantly for their own image is simply shocking. A compromise by definition hurts everybody a little bit...and that's what kept this country in balance. But we've lost that skill. Demanding a compromise that only hurt the opponents is unrealistic. But realism and statesmanship and progress are no longer the goal, only profiling counts anymore.
So after a failed formation of Elio Di Rupo, a paper written by Bart De Wever but immediately thrown out by the others, and several months where Vandelanotte had to clear up the air again (during which weirdly enough he never put all the parties around the same table....they did not talk to each other directly over the last 2-3 months!?) and launched in my mind a fairly balanced proposal to work with, it was once again sent back to the paper bin by the other parties. The entire week I've read news papers and opinions and figured I was going to write a kick ass analysis of the entire situation.
Well guess what....I don't feel like it.
Comments
Zonder tv, en mits een beetje afstand, degouteert het hele schouwspel van alfa-mannetjes ook wel een beetje.