Language faultline makes Belgians foreigners in their own country
DILBEEK, Belgium (AFP) — "In Dilbeek, Flemish are at home," reads a sign greeting visitors to a cultural centre in this small city on the outskirts of Brussels, much to the indignation of French speakers.
Sitting on the linguistic faultline that divides Belgium into Dutch and French speaking halves, this city of 40,000 people is a microcosm of the tensions fuelling one of the deepest political crises in the country's history.
"We are Belgian citizens, we are not foreigners in Flanders," said Michel Dandoy, a French-speaking politician in the Flemish city.
"It's incredible to be considered as second class citizens. Our (French-speaking) associations don't receive subsidies, we are not allowed to hold meetings on the premises of the city council," said Dandoy, a member of the only French-speaking party in the Dutch-speaking suburbs surrounding Brussels.
The small dormitory towns around Brussels are at the centre of the political crisis gripping linguistically divided Belgium, which is set to break its record on Tuesday for the longest period without forming a new coalition government.
Tensions over the rights of French-speakers in such Flemish towns to vote for Francophone politicians are one of the main issues keeping politicians from agreeing a ruling coalition nearly five months after a June 10 general election.
In Dilbeek, the French-speaking minority, which makes up 15 to 25 percent of the population, have little contact with their Dutch-speaking neighbors.
"We don't mix a lot," acknowledged Jean Paulis, a 76-year-old retired French-speaking engineer who has been living in Dilbeek since the 1960s. "If I'd known, I would have never bought land here," he added bitterly.
After more than 40 years in the city, Paulis has no Flemish friends and his wife, who speaks no Dutch, prefers to do her shopping in mainly French-speaking Brussels nearby.
Paulis rails against local civil servants' refusal to speak in any other language but Dutch and bans at local Flemish schools against French-speaking students using the language of Moliere with each other on the playground.
But Dilbeek's mayor, Stefaan Platteau, a descendent of French huguenots, insists that such complaints come only from a minority of die-hards "who totally refuse to integrate and find learning Dutch horrible."
"If I moved to Paris, I would find it normal to learn French," he said.
Amid such local tensions, politicians face a herculean task of forging a federal coalition government drawing on politicians from both Dutch and French speaking parties as required under the country's proportional voting system.
While in the distant past French was the dominant language among the political elite, the Flemish have become increasingly assertive about their language as the northern region has grown richer than the southern French-speaking region of Wallonia since World War II.
In the June 10 election, Flemish politicians demanded more power over economic policy to be devolved to regional authorities amid public opinion that Flemish taxpayers foot the bill for jobless benefits in high-unemployment Wallonia.
But as political tensions simmer, the crisis has also sparked rare showings of patriotism among individuals concerned about the uncertain fate of their country amid speculation that it could even one day split up.
Brussels in particular is sprouting a growing number of national black-yellow-red flags fluttering from the windows and balconies of average citizens although the movement is nearly imperceptible in Flanders.
"It's the national flag that's sought after, not the Flemish lion or the Walloon rooster" said Gregory Leroo, managing director of leading Belgian flag maker Wollux, in reference to the two regions' flags.
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Carte de la Belgique avec les frontières linguistiques :Jaune = FlandreRouge = WallonieOrange = BruxellesLignes bleues = germanophone
 Après les élections législatives fédérales belges du 10 juin 2007, les pourparlers entre les coalitions n'ont pas encore abouti à un compromis. Le record précédent, datant de 1988, a été battu aujourd'hui après 149 jours de suite sans nouveau gouvernement.

Le chrétien-démocrate Yves Leterme a gagné les élections en Flandre en promettant plus de pouvoir pour la majorité néerlandophone du pays. Les partis wallons, par contre, résistent cependant toujours à un accord avec les flamands et demandent des gestes symboliques et des compromis lors des débats sur le district électoral de Bruxelles-Hal-Vilvorde (BHV).

Les hommes politiques flamands disent qu'il est temps de découper le district parce qu'une décision de 2003 de la cour suprême a trouvé le district inconstitutionnel. Les Wallons, quant à eux, croient que le système bilingue peut fonctionner en Belgique et que les demandes unilatérales n'ont rien à voir dans un État fédéral.

Il y a eu quelques progrès dans les discussions concernant les réformes économiques, mais le débat central de la campagne continue. Le futur de la Belgique comme État fédéral est en question, mais l'indépendance immédiate de la région prospère de Flandre n'est pas encore soumise à discussion.

Le mercredi 6 novembre, une commission du parlement flamand votera sur le droit au vote dans la région de Bruxelles : il est prévu un . La chrétienne-démocrate Joëlle Miquet, surnommée  en Flandre pour son refus de mettre de côté ses promesses électorales à son district, a prévenu ce week-end qu'une déclaration en ce sens serait vue comme hostile, et que, dans ce cas, elle quitterait la table des négociations.

Vendredi dernier, Leterme a appelé à l'unité, appelant à la fin des . Beaucoup de Wallons voient Leterme comme défenseur des valeurs flamandes et non wallonnes. Une de ses citations très célèbre concernant la capacité des Wallons à apprendre le flamand est encore très bien dans les mémoires.

La Belgique est un État fédéral constitué :
* dans le nord, de six millions de citoyens habitant la Flandre (considérés comme néerlandophones) ;
* dans le sud, de 4,5 millions d'habitants pour la Wallonie (la majorité parle français) ;
* la ville de Bruxelles est considéré comme bilingue (même si les habitants parlent majoritairement français) ;
* dans l'est, d'une petite communauté germanophone.

Afin d'éviter trop de complications causées par le vide politique persistant, les partis du gouvernement précédent continuent à se rencontrer avec le premier ministre Guy Verhofstadt pour prendre quelques décisions simples mais nécessaires.