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Flemish separatists are big winners in Belgian election
Reuters ^ | Sun May 25, 2014 | PHILIP BLENKINSOP AND ROBERT-JAN BARTUNEK

Posted on 05/25/2014 6:07:32 PM PDT by dontreadthis

(Reuters) - A party that wants to dissolve Belgium was the chief winner of a parliamentary election on Sunday, setting the scene for months of deadlock before a new government can be formed.

With about 80 percent of votes counted, the opposition N-VA (New Flemish Alliance), had secured a third of the votes from the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders, the economic powerhouse in the north where some 60 percent of Belgians live.

The centre-right party, which captured 28.2 percent of the Dutch-speaking vote in 2010, has proposed transforming Belgium into a loose confederation of linguistically distinct regions, giving more power to regional governments.

It was a sobering night for the socialists of Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, who lost voters to a newly created hard left party although they should remain the largest force in the French-speaking south of Belgium.

(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...


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1 posted on 05/25/2014 6:07:32 PM PDT by dontreadthis
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To: dontreadthis

Europa is about to get interesting!


2 posted on 05/25/2014 6:10:02 PM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: dontreadthis

“Wallonia for the Walloons!”


3 posted on 05/25/2014 6:10:41 PM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: 17th Miss Regt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyeKYQdYISg


4 posted on 05/25/2014 6:14:18 PM PDT by dontreadthis
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To: 17th Miss Regt

Didn’t they do a song about them in the ‘80s ? “99 Luft-Walloons” ?


5 posted on 05/25/2014 6:21:51 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: dontreadthis

Congratulations to the people of Flemland!


6 posted on 05/25/2014 6:22:24 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: dontreadthis

Your can either be a Pleghm or Walloon?
Belgium sounds like a silly place.


7 posted on 05/25/2014 6:24:32 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: tumblindice

Three official languages


8 posted on 05/25/2014 6:27:10 PM PDT by dontreadthis
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To: dontreadthis
French, German, and Klingon?

/johnny

9 posted on 05/25/2014 6:31:23 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: dontreadthis

French, German and Grand Duchy of Fenwickese?


10 posted on 05/25/2014 6:31:43 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: JRandomFreeper

as my Flemish wife says, Belgium is leftover Royal crap


11 posted on 05/25/2014 6:32:58 PM PDT by dontreadthis
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To: dontreadthis

(Just kidding, btw. BELGIANS like Czechs and a few others Barry hasn’t managed to infuriate are good friends of America.)


12 posted on 05/25/2014 6:34:15 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: dontreadthis

Mark Steyn’s parents are Luft-Walloons. Or Flems.


13 posted on 05/25/2014 6:35:21 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

YES you are still bad LOL!


14 posted on 05/25/2014 6:37:46 PM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: dontreadthis

I like your wife opinion LOL!


15 posted on 05/25/2014 6:41:33 PM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: dontreadthis

Oh this ought to be good. My good friends wife is Flemish, he is Walloon.


16 posted on 05/25/2014 6:44:57 PM PDT by crz
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To: tumblindice

are Luft Walloons the name for German-speaking Belgians?


17 posted on 05/25/2014 6:45:43 PM PDT by dontreadthis
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To: dontreadthis
Walloons and some groups with similar names (Wallachians, Vlachs) speak languages derived from Latin. The names seem to go back to the ancient German term for the people who lived under Roman rule--as opposed to the free Germans. Welsh is in the same category although the Welsh language is Celtic, not Romance--their ancestors apparently were not very much influenced by the centuries they spent under Roman rule.

So in the context of Belgium, Walloons speak French. I think it is pretty much standard French apart from a few differences in vocabulary (the Walloons have a proper word for "eighty" instead of saying "four twenties.")

18 posted on 05/25/2014 6:58:58 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Verginius Rufus

while most Wallooons can speak French, several of the Walloon dialects are incomprehensible to a Francophone. The Walloon language is not even a dialect of French.


19 posted on 05/25/2014 7:13:30 PM PDT by dontreadthis
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To: 17th Miss Regt

Flanders for the Phlegms.


20 posted on 05/25/2014 7:16:03 PM PDT by dfwgator
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