English Support for Belgium

Some in England certainly don't like Belgium. Nigel Farage, UKIP leader, recently spoke in Ghent, further pressing his denial of the right of Belgium to exist and giving his support for a Flemish republic -and so the destruction of the Kingdom of Belgium. I never had strong opinions of EU before but recently have become more opposed to it. But it makes a problem that the anti-EU people like Farage are also anti-Belgium and while many think that being outside the EU is keeping Flemish nationalists from reaching total support for their goal of division of the country. So, in a way, EU is a sort of uncomfortable ally for me. The views of Farage are not universal of course and I found today these two articles from a blog called The English Mail-Coach which denounce the tactics of Farage and give support to the history and identity of Belgium. That is good to see. UKIP vs Belgium Part 1 and also UKIP vs Belgium Part 2.

I will repeat again that, though tirades against my country make me tempted, I have nothing but the desire to be a friend of Great Britain, I admire the British and their great historic accomplishments. I also appreciate the British forces who came to defend Belgian independence in 1914. But it is all of that which also makes me more upset at those who speak anti-Belgian anger. It also seems to me dangerous. I don't want Belgium to divide and I don't want Britain to divide either and there are more historic differences on Britain between Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland than between the regions in Belgium. Supporting those who thrive on ethnic rivalry does not seem very wise to me for the British to do. I want to see both countries continue and both countries be close friends as in the past has a long time been the case.

Why Not Abolish All Borders?

I think Europe has very much over-stepped their authority. The European Court of Justice as ruled on a case from Belgium that undocumented people (illegal aliens for another word) cannot be expelled from Belgium when they have children that hold Belgian nationality. This came about because of a query from the Brussels Labour Court that involved the Zambrano family from the South American country of Colombia. So try to understand the "justice" of this: In 1999 Ruiz Zambrano and his wife and child ran away from Colombia during one of their many civil wars. They came to Belgium and applied for political asylum. Of course the application was rejected (Colombia had been in 'civil war' since the 60's between the government and narcotic barons -not an unusual occurance in that part of the world). So, Ruiz Zambrano had no right to be in Belgium and was ordered to return to his own country.

But who respects our laws anyway? Not this family. They refused to leave Belgium and Ruiz was able to obtain illegal work, signing a labour contract even without a residence permit or a work permit. Nothing was ever reported and nothing was ever done. Living in Belgium illegally was working out pretty well for them and soon they had two more children (so many children, a sure sign someone is not European in our times). There was no problem having these children who were given Belgian nationality. However, the econmic hard times caused Ruiz to lose his job, a job he never was entitled to have in a country he had no right to be in and which was all this time depriving a Belgian of that employment. Of course, Ruiz turned to the Belgian government for help, so generous with the money that other people worked for. However, when it was found Ruiz was in the country illegally and was not supposed to be allowed to work in the first place his request for unemployment benefits was rejected. Unfair!

But Ruiz did not get this far without knowing how to play the system to his advantage. He applied for residency again, this time based on his two most recent children who had Belgian nationality. This was refused as well. The Colombian might have been out of luck but requests for unemployment benefits go to the Brussels Labour Court and they sought the advice of the European Court -because they so wanted to help this poor man even though he had broken law after law to get where he was and they had no legal right to do anything for him. The European Court came to the rescue of the South American and now says that European member states are not allowed to expel asylum seekers with children who hold Belgian nationality. After all, if you expel the parents they really must take with them the children and this would violate their rights as EU citizens, never mind that they are only citizens because their parents broke the law in the first place. But, wait now, it gets better: the Court also says that the parents have to be able to work to ensure in the needs of their offspring, even if they do not hold a work permit!

Apologies if I sound wicked here but this angers me and seems very unfair. They have just turned all of the Belgian immigration laws upside down. Now anyone can come from anywhere for any reason to anywhere in Europe, come to Belgian and if they have a child they now have to be allowed to stay and provided with employment. But what if they cannot obtain employment? Well then it must mean that the government will have to pay them unemployment benefits. It is not as if Belgium and all of Europe is short of money these days correct? This seems very unfair. I am sorry if this is insensitive but the man had no right to be in the country in the first place and since that is so I do not think his children have any right to Belgian nationality. They are Colombians, not Belgians. I would assume, as a Colombian, their first language was Spanish rather than Dutch. Now with this ruling maybe there will be many more such people. Another language group would certainly be wonderful, yes? How many official languages can Belgium have; French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Arabic...how many? It is working out so well. Really I do not understand bringing in any other nationalities of any circumstances when, at the moment, the native Belgians themselves who have been together for centuries cannot be getting along with each other. We are in no position to do this.

Britain and Belgium

Last week I was having especially an unpleasant exchange of words with a Briton who was hurling the usual insults against Belgium, 'not a real country', 'base of the EU', 'hypocrits' and sooner Belgium dissolved to nothing the better for him. This really makes me very angry, both because I am not 100% behind EU and it makes no sense to me for those who agree on this to cut each other down and also because I expect the British would be better than that, to insult and wish the demise of the Belgians. Truthfully, there have been tensions between the British and Belgians for a long time but in general the two countries have, in their modern history, always been friends. From the choosing of King Leopold I the kingdoms of Belgium and Great Britain have had the same Royal Family (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha before they changed in the war to "of Belgium" and "Windsor") and during the Great War the British, claimed at least, to be getting involved in order to defend against the invasion of Belgium, a noble way of standing up for the rights of small countries against the aggression of the more powerful countries.

How different it is today from that time when so many in Britain considered it a matter of honor to defend and support Belgium now to have so many cheering on the possible death of the kingdom across the water. It seems also that the British could look at their own situation and know better than to triumph in the misfortune of Belgium because they seem in so many ways to be going down the same destructive path that has Belgium. Consider the sitution: They Belgium is not a "proper country" because the people are divided and speak different languages. But people in Britain used to speak different languages before English was forced on everyone just as French used to be the one official language for Belgium. In fact they had more much than two with some speaks English, Cornish, Welsh, Scots Gaelic and then in Ireland. Today there are more efforts to revive these regional languages so that is making Britain less a proper country? Maybe they dismiss language and say it is about the divisions political. But again they really have more than one government in Britain today. Most of Ireland broke away and is a republic now. The part that did not is "autonomous" with his own government. Scotland now has a parliament of its own and even Wales has its own local government though they have been part of England since hundreds of years.

Just today another Englishman tells me that I must not have understanding of the British government because English still have lots of power in Scotland. Maybe so, but they claimed at least they had no knowledge or control of the Scotland law courts from releasing a convicted terrorist back to Libya and no matter what powers these assemblies have it is obvious, is it not, that the trend lately in Britain, just like it was in Belgium decades past, is being towards division and disunity rather than greater unity. Just like Flemish nationalists want to end Belgium by having independent Flanders the British also have the Scottish National Party that wants to end United Kingdom by having an independent Scotland. It is obvious the situation is not so serious as in Belgium but everything points to the same direction and I would think anyone could see this and Britons who love their United Kingdom would be somewhat concerned for this and not exulting in the problems of the Belgians knowing that there is no reason the same cannot happen to them. Already the British Empire is fallen away and the country has turned more to Europe, more to EU and depend for themselves on allies rather than acting independently in matters economic and military.

I am not total supporter of EU and I do not want to see Great Britain breaking up into pieces either but I am sometimes angered into saying things I later regret because some of them do want that for my country. And why? How did Belgium offend? We did not invent EU and we had no more greater voice in building it or running it than any other country. I hope Britons will stop the insults and consider that they could someday be in the same position and rather than start fights with the Belgians be accepting of any sympathetic to the situation and wanting both countries to survive and prosper.

Buying New Beds for Burning House

Everyone knows that the European countries are all having severe money problems. Greece and Ireland have required help to stay afloat, Portugal, Spain and Italy are suspected to be next in line and recently even France has had accusations of potential economic crisis to deal with. Of course, on top of everything else dealing with at the moment, Belgium has also had to quickly deny charges that financial crisis could be imposing over the country. The debt is huge, the financial obligations gigantic and EU President and former premier Herman Van Rompuy has recently had to try to put fears to rest about the Belgian economy. It also does not help that there is still no government to handle this and Yves Leterme is even walking out on reporters instead of answering question. If a major crisis is about to happen or no there is still no denying that the financial situation is in a critical state.

Because of that it seems not at all ordinary to me that the Belgian Foreign Ministry has just announced that Belgium will pay 14 million euros to our former colony of Congo to offset the cost of upcoming elections in the country. The foreign minister called this pay out, "preventative diplomacy". Next year the Congo will have a presidential elections and in the immediate years there will also be parliamentary, provincial and municipal elections that, like all elections everywhere, will naturally cost some money. In fact the total cost is estimated to be some 540 million euros. Given that total, 14 million euros may not seem like much, other countries and European Union will be paying about half the total cost of the Congolese elections, but is this a wise decision by the Belgian government? Considering the dangerous position of the Belgian economy is it affordable or wise to send 14 million euros to the Congo for political contests?

Only recently King Albert II and Queen Paola were in the Congo to participate in their celebrations of the anniversary of independence from Belgium. Does independence not mean anymore that they pay their own costs? This is like the teenager who moves from his parents home but still calls asking for money to pay the bills. In a way this is what King Baudouin warned the Congolese about when he handed over their independence to them. Independence means a country is to carry its own weight and not depend on others. This 14 million euros represents dependence and not independence. I cannot see the wisdom of spending any amount when Belgium is drowning in debt to help a country that for most of these last decades has had a hostile attitude toward Belgium, blaming all problems on their former colonial power but at the same time expecting always help in return.

How about this idea: Belgium can keep the 14 million euros and instead we send the Congo Yves Leterme, even throw in Herman Van Rompuy as a free extra to solve their problems. There are even more I would be generous to give to the Congo instead of the millions of euros.

Belgium and European Union

I am sometimes asked by others in my exile what my thoughts are on European Union. Usually I try not to think of it at all. My primary concern is the national situation, not the international situation of all of Europe. In general I have a mostly negative view of European Union though I also recognize some positive aspects or at least positive intentions. You see, it is hard to explain because I really do not fit completely in one group or another. I would have thought European Union a good idea when it started and some of the European statesmen I most admire have been associated with the whole pan-European movement. However, I do not see where it has done my country or really any country much good. The one fall-back the pro-EU crowd turns to is that there has been no World War III. That is true and that is not a benefit to talk disrespectfully about. No one wants to see that happen but how can we know that such a thing not happening is because of European Union and not because of NATO? I would say the UN but I am pretty solidly convinced that organization is totally useless.

The economic benefits were once the most touted by supporters but today that seems like a very weak argument. I also am a little bit nervous about the leading role played by Germany in the EU from the very begining and even today most EU expenses fall on German taxpayers. I am not hateful toward the Germans by any means but I would not be honest if I did not say it makes me a little uncomfortable that the German-dominated European super-state envisioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II and Adolf Hitler seems to have become a reality today. But, honesty would also force me to say that the EU has some attractions at least on an emotional level with Brussels being the headquarters and Belgium being at the center of all the decision making in Europe. However, I cannot see where EU has helped Belgium and lately I have begun to wonder if the EU elites are not at some level supportive of the breakup of Belgium and would like to see something similar happen to other European countries.

Even on the wider world stage it seems to me that countries did better on their own than they have with the EU whether it is trade, diplomacy or foreign interventions. I also do not approve of how EU government is set up with the only elected members have very little power to do anything really. I am a royalist but I like my own constitutional setup pretty well and when people pay people should have a say. I do not mind a king not being elected because the king must be impartial but when it comes to politicians making decisions for me I would certainly want to be able to vote them out of office if they do wrong. All of this makes me have a very negative view of European Union, but again, I cannot fit neatly in with what English call the Euro-skeptic crowd. Speaking of the British they scare me alot in European Union. As the video I posted before shows UKIP is very anti-Belgium and the British National Party is very friendly with Vlaams Belang that want to see Belgium destroyed. It is a fact that the Belgians are given little choice for the only parties that oppose EU are almost invariably Flemish nationalist parties. If one even does not like EU then it makes it very hard to oppose it without falling into bad company for the loyal Belgian who loves his country and monarchie.