Netherlands and Belgium: Low Country blues | Editorial

Both political systems have been rocked by the success of forces that were not so much new in themselves but were suddenly manifest on a new scale. In Belgium the New Flemish Alliance or N-VA, Flemish nationalist and rightwing, became the largest party. It has only been in existence since 2001. In the Netherlands, the Freedom party or PVV of Geert Wilders, Dutch nationalist and anti-migrant, more than doubled its MPs to become the third largest party. Its origins go back only to 2004.

The result in both countries was the same. It was hard to create a governing coalition without including the newcomer, but it was equally hard to create one with the newcomer, because of the fundamental difference in values between the parties. In the Dutch case, the difference was most acute over the treatment of migrants and minorities. In the Belgian case, the difference was between those who wanted to preserve the state and those whose ultimate aim was to dismantle it or at least so dilute it as to make it meaningless.

So it was not altogether a surprise this weekend when Elio di Rupo, the socialist charged with trying to form a viable coalition in Belgium, confessed failure to King Albert. Nor when Geert Wilders walked out of talks on supporting the Christian Democrats and the Liberals in the Netherlands, essentially because he could not get a tight enough deal on migrants.

Both countries are faced with the problems of recession, so this is a bad moment to be treading water. Polls suggest the great majority of Belgians wish their country to continue, while the Dutch do not want theirs in limbo because of arguments over migrants. Europe has begun to notice that it has a pair of timebombs on its doorstep. Compromise is necessary, especially since observers believe that new elections would produce an equally intractable and essentially similar political arithmetic. The hope must be that public pressure from the voters whose choices created these farcical situations may help to resolve them as they become more and more impatient with their dithering political leaders.