Belgian nationalism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Belgian nationalism (or Belgicistic nationalism; Dutch: Belgicisme; French: Belgicanisme) defines an ideology that favours a strong centralized government, with less or no autonomy for the Flemish Community, French Community of Belgium, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as their regional and ethnic counterparts within Belgium. It insists on restoring total sovereignty of the Belgian state level, after decades of state structure reforms that made Belgium a federal state since the 1970s - contrary to Flemish nationalists who advocate independence of their region. Belgian nationalists advocate the unity between all language groups in Belgium, and condemn each perceived chauvinistic or linguistic discrimination, advocate the knowledge of all official languages (Dutch, French, German) and a multicultural, tolerant, strong feeling of citizenship.

Belgian nationalism is mainly supported by French-speaking politicians, alongside many extreme-left-wingers and certain circles in Brussels. Though there is popular support in all regions of Belgium, political parties that support this ideology openly, have prominently never gained much electoral support over the last twenty years. The effect of state reforms discussions to take place is not predictable. Some Belgian nationalism can be found in the political agenda of most French-speaking parties.

[edit] Advocates

Political parties with strong Belgian nationalistic ideology:

• Front Démocratique des Francophones (FDF/Democratic Front of Francophones), French-speaking nationalists, strictly French-speaking in practice. This party could also be regarded as regionalist, as it only defends the interests of French speakers in Brussels ("Bruxellois").
• Belgische Unie/Union Belge (BUB/Belgian Union), Belgian centrist Unionist party, strictly bilingual but in practice mainly Dutch-speaking.
• Historically, Verdinaso has advocated a version of Belgian identity centered on Fascism

Political parties with certain Belgian nationalistic elements in their programmes:

• Mouvement Réformateur (MR/Reform Movement), French-speaking liberals with strong nationalist programme, incorporates the FDF.