A series of deadly drug-related shootings in the heart of Brussels, home to the European Union institutions, reveals how bad the city is: bankrupt, plagued by violence and crime, and politically ruined, writes "Politico" in its analysis of the problems facing the Belgian capital.
In the first month and a half of this year alone, 11 shootings have been recorded, in which two people have died and four more have been injured. And the cases of gang violence do not stop. Unimaginable just a few years ago, these attacks show how sharply the city has fallen and how urgently strong political will is needed. But Brussels has none.
Belgium’s political structure is a labyrinthine system of many layers of government, each with its own powers and frequent internal conflicts. When it works, everything is fine, but when it doesn’t, paralysis sets in.
And few places are more paralyzed than the Brussels region, where nine months after local elections, politicians are still bickering, with no stable government in sight in the Belgian capital.
It’s not just the fight against crime that is being hampered by this political chaos. The construction of social housing and major infrastructure projects are also at risk of being delayed.
Subsidies – for charities, NGOs, cultural projects and more – have been frozen. Funding for social centres, the police and local authorities is shrouded in uncertainty. Public debt is piling up almost as fast as the garbage bags on the dirty streets.
"It's really about the survival of Brussels as a city," says centrist Christophe De Boeckeler, a centrist politician in the capital region's local parliament.
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Far from the touristy Grand Place with its cute chocolate shops and colorful brasseries, Brussels is a city on the edge.
If the city had an elected government, controlling spending would be priority No. 1.
The capital's debt stands at more than €14 billion, not counting another €1.6 billion expected to be added this year. The Belgian newspaper Bruzz estimates that the capital’s deficit is growing by 4 million euros a day.
De Boeckeler, who last month tried to restart coalition talks, is relentless. In the months since the election, politicians have not even had a real conversation, he told Politico.
“The whole problem is political posturing: ‘You’re my friend. You’re not. I want to work with you. But not with you...’ It’s immature behavior,” he says.
Capital burden
The overly complex political structure confuses and irritates even Belgians themselves.
To put it (relatively) simply, Brussels is one of three provinces of Belgium, along with French-speaking Wallonia to the south and Dutch-speaking Flanders to the north, which surround the capital. All three provinces have their own local governments, responsible for issues such as housing, transport and the economy.
According to Dave Sinarde, a professor of political science at the Free University of Brussels, the capital province has become a "burden on the entire country" with its huge debt.
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And it could get worse: the region's credit rating could be downgraded by the summer, which would make servicing loans more expensive and increase the debt even more, warns acting Budget Minister Sven Gatz.
Prof. Sinarde says that this could at least put pressure on political forces to finally form. Others, however, are not so optimistic.
The centrist Les Engagés party is proposing that the salaries of Brussels politicians be cut by 30% until they form a government, and by 40% if none is in place by June.
Even the last option - a minority government - seems doubtful, because it would still need a parliamentary majority to work and make decisions.
Although far from an ideal scenario, "a minority government is still better than no government", says De Boeckeler.
How did the current situation in Brussels come about?
While Dutch-speaking voters are the majority in the country, in the federal capital region of Brussels, the majority is French-speaking. To ensure representation of Dutch-speaking forces, the Brussels government must include a majority of both language groups. And both parties need the agreement of the parties before signing a coalition agreement.
After the elections last June, the agreement on the French side was relatively easy. The center-right party "Mouvement Reformiste" (MR) became the largest Francophone force and quickly reached an agreement with the socialists and Les Engagés ("The Engaged").
On the other hand, the Flemish Greens won the Dutch-speaking vote and in November reached an agreement with the socialist Vooruit, the liberal Open VLD and the Flemish nationalists of the New Flemish Alliance — the party of the new Belgian Prime Minister, Bart de Wever.
However, the celebrations of understanding were short-lived. The French Socialists refused to govern with the Flemish nationalists. And the liberals of the Open VLD refused to enter a government without the New Flemish Alliance.
The French-speaking parties are "deceitful" if they think they can solve the problems of Brussels without cooperation with the Flemish nationalists who govern at the federal level, says the chief negotiator for the Open VLD, Frederic De Gucht.
In a video on his Instagram account, Ahmed Laaouage, the Brussels leader of the Socialists, called the Flemish nationalists "a separatist, anti-Brussels and anti-diversity party" and declared that if they entered the Brussels government, they would show "contempt for the region and its interests".
And so for another month, no one has given up.
The nuclear button
Although Belgium is divided into three regions, Brussels itself is divided into 19 municipalities. Each of them has its own mayor. Together, they manage the six police departments in the region.
Amid rising crime and a boom in gang violence, the Belgian federal government has said it wants to merge these departments into one. It is no surprise that Brussels politicians have strongly opposed it.
According to them, the problem is not the complex structure, but the lack of national funding, as the merger of police departments risks alienating the police from the people of Brussels.
As an example of the linguistic tension, some, such as François de Smet of the "Independent Federal Democrats" party, accuse the new federal government of imposing a project of Flemish nationalists against the will of Brussels.
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However, the Flemish parties claim that the merger of all 19 police departments into one is simply a manifestation of common sense. As is the decision to have all calls to the police go through a common centre.
"You don't have to be a Flemish nationalist to understand that this is a better system," says De Gucht of the Open VLD.
In the current deadlock and stalemate in government talks, some politicians fear that Brussels is losing its autonomy.
The leader of the MR party, Georges-Louis Boucher, has even threatened that if Brussels does not tighten up, it could be placed under direct control by the federal government.
That would be like pressing a nuclear button. And it is most likely legally impossible.
Legally, it is "fiction", says Sinarde. But in theory, the federal government could tie additional payments to Brussels to certain conditions — similar to how the EU forced reforms on Greece in exchange for a bailout.
And the shootings in Brussels continue. Sooner or later, the chaos in the city will force someone to act. But apparently that time has not yet come.
"I am ashamed of this political circus," says De Boeckeler.