Belgium celebrates 450 days without a government!
BRUSSELS, Belgium - September 13, 2011 - Belgium has not had a government in over 15 months, a record for modern economies. Yet their economy somehow managed to outperform those of the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Finland, and Switzerland in the most recent quarter.
It has been 15 months since Belgium last had a government. More than 450 days later, Belgian politics remain stuck in gridlock after election results meant that no single party received more than 17.4% of seats in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and 19.61% in the Belgian Senate.
"Technically this can last until the next federal election has to be called in 2014," said political scientist Dave Sinardet, a professor at Antwerp University and the Free University of Brussels.
"Let's say we have elections in 2014 and we have some problem forming a coalition, this caretaker government could still go on after that. As long as it commands a majority in Parliament, the only obstacle to it continuing would be the fear of absurdity.”
However, it appears Belgian officials couldn’t care less. Since the elections, 10 politicians have tried to negotiate a new government and none have succeeded. Francophone socialist Elio Di Rupo is the latest to give it a go, though the negotiations have reached another standstill.
On a day-to-day basis, though, Belgium is ticking along nicely. Its economy is growing, exports are up, inward foreign investment has continued, the country's presidency of the European Union in 2010 was deemed a success, and it has contributed to the NATO bombing of Libya.
This is partly because the caretakers and their civil servants are efficient managers, but also because many powers have already been devolved to Belgium's regional governments and linguistic communities - not to mention the pooling of sovereignty with other members of the eurozone and European Union.
"We have a new form of government, a new form of democracy, proving to the world that this crazy idea that you need full government with full powers may be just not true," says Sinardet, with a heavy dose of irony.
