BELGIAN BUSINESS IS NOT HELPED BY DUTCH MEDDLING


By Eduard Schaepman, General Manager Benelux Regus


The painful process of forming a government that is dragging on in Belgium at the moment has touched a few nerves.  The country appears to be torn in two, and there is no end in sight.  Restoring stability is absolutely necessary to avoid damage to the economy.  It does not help matters if the Netherlands interferes in this process; that will just fan the flames.

As everyone knows, in Belgium there is a lot more going on than just the stalling process of forming a cabinet.  In this case, the enormous differences of view between Flanders and Wallonia appears to be leading to a constitutional crisis.  Stalemate in the government formation process was guaranteed once the border between the regions speaking the country’s two main languages was brought into the discussion.  The Flemish negotiators see any amendment of this border, which was defined in 1963, as totally unacceptable.
 
Personally, I have been watching the current events with total astonishment.  The country covers just over 30,000 square kilometres.  By way of comparison: the area of the Netherlands is 35,000 square kilometres.  By definition, Flemish and Walloon people live close together.  Yet apparently, they can't stand each other, and refuse to accept each other’s language and culture.  In my opinion, it is already strange that within the same small country, people refer to two different cultures.  Of course, within any country, there are subcultures, but here we are talking about two deliberately separate cultures.  At any rate, that’s how it seems.
 
I have been doing business in Belgium for years, and really enjoy it.  My Belgian colleagues and business contacts are all flexible in the way they work, accessible and courteous.  Incidentally, I am deliberately tarring all my Belgian contacts with the same brush.  Of course you can observe differences - language for one – but from the business viewpoint, that doesn't really matter.  That also applies to the way that both groups deal with each other.
 
The present stalemate and imminent internal fracture form a direct risk for the operation of the Belgian economy and therefore also for the Dutch.  Political and social dissension is seeping inevitably into the various layers of business life.  The current political soap opera is not good for the international competitive position either; investors are usually wary of politically unstable situations.
 
It strikes me that in the Dutch media, sometimes coverage of the political events is for dubious reasons.  Coverage in itself is not strange, but I am of the opinion that the tone of this coverage lacks sensitivity.  Newspaper de Telegraaf ran the following remarkable headline: 'Dutch in favour of merger with Flanders'.  First of all, as far as I am aware, countries do not merge.  Besides that, it refers to a possible tie-up with Flanders as if it were just a question of fitting a towbar to the car.  One in five Dutch people is of the opinion that the nation formed after this merger should be led by the House of Orange-Nassau.  If I understand correctly, it seems we have invited the King of the Belgians to take extended gardening leave.
 
It is up to today's politicians and the Belgian head of state to intervene quickly and guide the current debate.  It is nothing to do with us.  What we can do is to stop uninvited speculation about the outcome of the political stalemate or - even worse - passing judgement about most desirable outcome. This shows a lack of respect, and is just fanning the flames.  It leads to greater turmoil, which is not in our interest.