Anticonstitutional meeting of the Walloon Parliament

From mid-September the 1991, the Flemish socialist ministers and Volksunie of the Belgian national Government (today federal) chaired by Wilfried Martens opposed so that the qualified restricted Ministerial council grants the license of exports of weapons bound for the Saudi Arabia and of the United Arab Emirates. These two Flemish political currents always had a great pacifist tradition and it is undoubtedly for this reason that they took this attitude.

Origins of the crisis

The weapons were manufactured in Walloon region with the FN of Herstal and Small-Rœulx Mecar with . For Carol Gluza, President of the Federation of the Metallurgists FGTB of Liege the problem is political: it is about the control of its economy by Wallonia . Employers' side, the Walloon Union of the companies spoke about abusive discrimination .

The convocation of the Walloon Parliament

The tension is such as the president of the PS, Guy Spitaels writes on September 26th with Willy Burgeon president of the Walloon Parlement (still called at the time, District council ), to require of him to convene urgently the Walloon District council to deliberate and possibly take measurements necessary for the safeguard of the companies concerned of our Area . Gerard Deprez, then president of the principal party of the French-speaking government coalition side required that, with the day order, be united the decision to regionalize agriculture. Philippe Destatte comments on the facts thus: the threat is precise: convened for Monday, the Walloon Parliament could transform itself into General states . September 30th, the president of the Walloon Parliament gives the word, according to his own terms with the Prime Minister of Wallonia , i.e. Bernard Anselme, which is expressed as follows: the Executive official name of [[Walloon Government], conscious of the extreme urgency in front of which it was, had been for several days in a state of permanent deliberation and is ready to take if necessary all - I say all well - measurements useful for the rescue of our companies and our employment. .

Outcome of the crisis

Before the Belgian government does not dislocate itself - in the climate of crisis thus created - afterwards, in particular, the departure of the Ministers for the Volksunie , to avoid the frontal shock of a Belgian Gouvernenent and a meeting certainly illegal of the Walloon Parliament, but surrounded by legitimacy (considering in particular the dissatisfaction with employers and the Walloon trade unions), Guy Spitaels (which had received the support without reserve of the Deputy Prime Minister of Brussels Philippe Moureaux]) proposed the creation of distinct departmental committees (Walloon/French-speaking and Flemish/Dutch-speaking) which undertook with the question, inside the central government . Competence as regards exports of weapons and more precisely, the license which an political authority must give him remained federal, but a compromise consisted in creating regional departmental committees inside the federal government. The subsequent governments distributed competence to Ministers for the two linguistic groups. Thus in the governments Dehaene and Verhofstadt, the Foreign Ministers and of the foreign trade pertaining to two different linguistic groups, saw themselves charged, one of the files Walloon and of Brussels introduced in French, the other, of the files Flemish and of Brussels introduced in Dutch. The process is very except original. Since 1970, indeed, the Community partitioning interns within the central government of conflict competences was a current practice and the prelude to the pure and simple transfer of the matter to the federate entities. .

Prolongations and epilogs

Gouvernemeent of Guy Verhofstadt knew tensions again on this subject, because this problem sensitive (to the eyes of the Flemings: pacifism; and with the eyes of the Walloons: the defense of employment), caused new difficulties in 1999 in connection with the supply of elements to a power station nucélaire of the Pakistan, in 2000, at the time of a sale of weapons to the government of the Mexico, in 2002 at the time of the supply of machine-guns to the government of Nepal (in this case, Louis Michel, to cover itself, whereas it did not have the obligation of it, communicated its decision with the Council of cabinet restricted, which did not involve any reaction of the Minister Agalev Magda Aelvoet, this one being forced with the resignation by its base because of its absence of reaction). Lastly, at the summer 2003, the matter was entirely regionalized. There was however still at least a problem in spring 2005 with the licensing of export of material of manufacture of weapons to the Tanzania. In spite of the insistence of this country whose ambassador of Tanzania was accepted officially by the Walloon Government with Namur: the license was not granted. On the authorities of the Belgian federal minister for the foreign affairs , Karel De Gucht, taking into account the African policy of the Belgian State, the Walloon Government finally decided not to grant the famous license of export. Here the compromise was not legal any more or institutional, but political: it was indeed rather incredible that Wallonia follows a policy different from Belgium and even from Europe in Africa.

Conclusions on the Belgian federalism

The initiative of the Walloon Parliament in September 1991 lights rather well how little by little the Belgian Fédéralisme builds. Extreme tensions could carry out at the edge of separation as the emission of the RTBF of December 13rd, 2006 put forth of it the assumption with the favor of a hoax (see All that (Belgium will not return to us)). But at the same time carried out the most extreme is finally contradicted by a will to avoid the too hard conflict or even simply the anticonstitutional adventure.

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