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Article: Fading away: Belgium. (governmental decentralization on ethnic lines)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- October 31, 1992
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE ten farms inside the Brussels city limits will get a minister of agriculture all to themselves. Belgium's embassies abroad will each have three separate commercial attaches. These are just some of the zanier bits of a new devolution package agreed on by Belgium's centre-left coalition government. It all sounds ridiculous; but when compared with the way others, from Belfast to Bosnia, try to settle their ethnic differences, Belgium deserves a clap.
The Belgian model mixes patience (some would say resignation) with commitment. The Dutch-speaking Flemings and the French-speaking Walloons have been cautiously dismantling the unitary Belgian state since 1968.
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