Britain To Follow Belguim’s Route To Divorce?
Today is “Devolution Day” in Wales, a decade since the referendum narrowly in favour of devolution, which is now claimed by First Minister Rhodri Morgan to be the glue which unites Wales and allows it to “grow up”. Bloggers such as Ordovicius want the Welsh Assembly to gain more powers and become a parliament like that in Scotland. I can but agree with him that it should be - and there should be an English Parliament as well.
But will - or could - this lead to the situation that Belgium is in now?
Despite increasingly desperate calls by Belgium’s King Albert for national unity, the federal state has hit its worst crisis for 177 years after national elections on June 10 failed to produce a government and coalition talks descended into ugly squabbling between francophone Walloons and the Dutch-speaking Flemish…
At the core of Belgium’s crisis is a democratic deficit hardwired into a federal system that institutionalises divisions between Flanders, in the north of the country, and the southern region of Wallonia.
Belgium’s 10.5 million citizens vote along ethnic lines, there are no national political figures in the country’s 11 parties and there are five parliaments organised on rigid regional and linguistic lines. (The Telegraph)
Is this going to happen to Britain in the future? Will fish’n'chips end up being all that holds a devolved, federal, Britain together in the future? Probably not. If the UK breaks up into separate parts it will be long before such a tenuous link develops as the only reason for the Union.
But the UK is in far more serious danger for as long as there is unequal devolution. There should be English, Scottish, and Welsh Parliaments all with equal powers, and equal sized constituencies for the federal government. That is the only way that the UK can prevent getting into a similar and as degrading state as Belgium currently is. Devolution must be equal or non-existent.
Sources: The Telegraph, icWales
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It’s amazing how little attention has been given to the breakdown of politics in Belgium - I thought the EU would be quite concerned, but obviously not.
I don’t think the EU even want to think about Belgium, it gives them a headache. The EU’s stance has been that any region within the EU that become’s independent would have to re-apply for membership. The very idea that the first region to do so would be the location of the EU’s capital never occured to them. This will set a precedent like no other.
The Economist came out for the break of Belgium recently, (and as they’re not exactly Eurosceptic I take this as implying that it would not wreck the EU)
There’s no way The Economist would come out for the break up of the UK and there’s no way that any of the papers (all owned by big business) will come out for an English Parliament — which will hasten the end of the Union.
And naturally, the US would not want to see it’s clostest ally splinter into smaller, less belligerent, nations…