Text 37148, 70 rader
Skriven 2016-10-22 16:11:44 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
  Kommentar till text 37143 av Gerrit Kuehn (2:240/12)
Ärende: Re: Royalty etc ...
===========================
Gerrit,
 
GK>GK>> To leave some space and time to talk about Belgians blocking CETA?
 
GK>WD> But we don't ... we support it ...
 
GK> Calls for a definiton of "we" and "support"...
 
"We" in Flanders and the Brussels region and the German portion support it.
 
There is a small tribe south of Brussels, called the Walloons, which is
adamantly rejecting it as the only entity in the EU for unclear reasons.
 
"Unclear" however for the un-initiated.
 
I will try to explain ...
 
As you know there are 3 regions in Belgium and 4 communities each with their
own parliament. "International Treaties" per the constitution are a matter for
which the regions (like Laender in Germany) are competent, not the national
government ... I don't find it logical but that's how the powers that be
negotiated it way back when. For all clearness, it was a Walloonian
prerogative.
 
Now the national government has a different coalition, than the regional
Walloonian government. The prime-minister Charles Michel is a Walloon and
belongs to the Liberal party, Bob Bashe will be very surprised but he is
immensely popular in Flanders.
 
However, in the Walloonian government, the Liberals are not in power but an
opposition-party. The national prime-minister there is considered by the
Walloonian majority as a defector of the Francophone case. As a result they
refuse to validate CETA as the only political entity all over the EU and risk
to sink it ... merely to get back at one of their Walloonian politicians.
 
Donald Tusk, the somewhat president of the EU, was in the news yesterday
stating that the whole matter boils down more to a local politicl issue
somewhere in Belgium than actual dissagreement with the treaty.
 
The political fall-out really created a shockwave among the Walloonian
politicians when yesterday they suddenly discovered that their minor tribal war
risked sinking one of the largest worl-trade agreements ever thereby reducing
themselves to the weight of a European jester probably removing them from any
significant European role in the future.
 
Paul Magnette, the President of the Walloonian government (who speaks excellent
Dutch and also is popular in Flanders, Bob Bashe) also suddenly realised that
his chances of ever becoming the national prime-minister as well as the
possibility of playing any role of importance in the European Parliament were
dwindling like snow in the Sahara desert.
 
How will this continue? Now I'm merely guessing ...
 
The bad boys who created this mess had a rude awakening and now need perhaps
48/72hrs to perform one of the most remarkable "about face" operations of this
century. Walloonia will agree and CETA will be signed, however their
politicians are now pondering the right words to express their sentiments when
they pulled their heads out of their collective arses and try to camouflage
their defeat as a victory ... for some reason, Roy Witt comes to mind.
 
I'm glad, personally, that Europe is now finally also exposed to the kind of
shenanigans which Flanders has had to endure since WW2 and in which it always
was painted as the bad guy.
 
How's that for an explanation? I tried to remain civil ...
 
 \%/@rd

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 * Origin: Many Glacier -- Protect - Preserve - Conserve (2:292/854)