The Eurolab experiment gone wrong

The last time Belgium held a general election, in 2007, it took 282 days to form a fully fledged coalition government. The country is now being called to fresh elections on June 13th. Forming the next coalition may well be harder.

Among the Dutch-speakers of Flanders in the country’s north, the polls are topped by Bart De Wever, a populist bruiser who describes French-speakers in the south as “dependents” addicted to transfers from the thrifty Flemish. He wants to split the tax system in two, as well as the welfare state and most other public spending. The king and the country called Belgium can stay, for the time being, but Flanders’s “natural evolution”, says Mr De Wever, is to become an independent state.

Among the French-speakers who make up 40% of Belgium’s population, polls show a lead for Elio Di Rupo, a Socialist whose battle cry is “solidarity” within Belgium (ie, continued transfers from Flanders). Though Belgium’s public debt stands at 99% of national income, Mr Di Rupo promises above-inflation spending rises on health and pensions. In a final flourish, he is calling for price controls on 200 staples, such as bread and milk. Somehow, a coalition must be formed with the consent of these two men.

It has not been an impressive election campaign. Belgium’s leaders have barely addressed Europe’s most dangerous economic crisis in a generation. Instead they have argued about language rights in a set of Flemish communes with lots of French-speaking residents, and other local arcana. Read full article in The Economist...