Belgium: The EU's Capital Can Barely Govern Itself

Belgium's political system is defined by its almost ungovernable linguistic divide. The country is split between Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north (roughly 60% of the population, consistently the economically stronger region), French-speaking Wallonia in the south (historically industrial, now poorer and more socialist-leaning), and bilingual Brussels — the national capital, de facto EU capital, and a majority-French city surrounded by Flemish municipalities. Federal coalition governments must include parties representing both language communities with roughly equal weight. This means any majority government typically requires at least six or seven parties, often from ideologically opposing wings. The result is that coalition formation in Belgium is an extended, grinding process that routinely tests international patience and occasionally breaks world records.

The June 2024 federal elections produced a further complication: Vlaams Belang (VB), the far-right Flemish nationalist party led by Tom Van Grieken, emerged as the largest single party in Flanders. VB campaigns on Flemish independence, strict immigration policy, and conservative social values. However, all other major parties maintain a "cordon sanitaire" — a longstanding agreement not to govern with VB — dating to the late 1980s. This cordon held in 2024. Instead, Bart De Wever of N-VA (New Flemish Alliance, conservative Flemish nationalist) was tasked as formateur to build a center-right federal government. After approximately 18 months of talks, the "Arizona" coalition finally formed in January 2025 with De Wever as Prime Minister — Belgium's first ever N-VA head of government. This is a significant political milestone: the party once seen as too separatist for federal government now leads it.

Belgium's situation is a peculiar case study for European politics: the country that hosts the EU's headquarters and NATO's headquarters can barely manage to govern itself. The irony has not been lost on critics: the EU has built its institutions in a country whose federal model appears permanently dysfunctional. Belgium has operated under caretaker governments for cumulative years of its post-war history, and this has paradoxically become normalized — society continues to function during government vacuums because so much policy is devolved to regional governments in Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels, each with its own parliament and executive.