Belgium: Right-wing strikes deal to lead new government

[illecors@lemmy.cafe]

To those of you who come to the comment section for a take and see the dust biting comment - relax. Read the article.

The far-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party was excluded from the government talks

This EU, not far-rightistan across the pond.

[technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Nationalism is a plague. Especially in Belgium, there's no way to be nationalist without being a fascist.

[robin@lemmy.world]

Belgian here. We have not fallen to fascism. I would not call NVA extreme right, just right. That would be Vlaams Belang, who also got a lot of votes to be fair but they're not part of the government coalition because none of the other parties want to work with those nutcases. There is a coalition of parties. Because we have a healthy number of parties to vote for, no single party ever gets the majority vote. Five parties just signed a coalition agreement. That's why Belgium has the record for being the longest without a government. It takes a long time for these parties to come to an agreement but it also means more balanced policies.
Things change slowly in Belgian government, we don't get big swings from left to right. But that doesn't make for good headlines.

[fizz@lemmy.nz]

What messages have these parties been campaigning on?

[inferno@lemmy.ml]

Privatizing public health care. Changing our federal structure to confederalism. No more money transfers to the poorer southern region, which also happens to speak a different language. Identity politics.

[fizz@lemmy.nz]

I know nothing about the internal workings of Belgium but those all sound like awful policies.

[wewbull@feddit.uk]

How wide spread are the other coalition members? Does it span the spectrum or is it mostly right?

[spacehooks@reddthat.com]

Cause everyone in murica I'd happy with the health care???

[akuji@leminal.space]

One right-wing party on its way towards Benito's corporatism, two center-right wet noodles that'll happily follow the others as long as they fuck the common folk politely, and a center-"left" party. Very diverse as you can tell.

[thefriar@lemm.ee]

I think those of us who know better would be surprised to really see how gullible people are when their basest hatred and fear are spoken to.

I mean, which sociologist was it that said humans seem to go through about a 70-80year fascism cycle? And here we are, proving them right.