Free Republic

CATALONIA may be the catalyst for a renewed wave of separatism in the European Union, with Scotland and Flanders not far behind. The great paradox of the European Union, which is built on the concept of shared sovereignty, is that it lowers the stakes for regions to push for independence. While a post-national European Union may be emerging out of the euro zone crisis, with a drive for more fiscal union and more centralized control over national budgets and banks, the crisis has accelerated calls for independence from member countries’ richer regions, angry at having to finance poorer neighbors. Artur...

Three years ago, I was having lunch in an Italian restaurant with the leader of Belgium's Flemish nationalist party, Bart De Wever. "Give me Elio Di Rupo as prime minister of Belgium and then make Prince Philippe a king," the head of the New Flemish Alliance told me. "Within five years Belgium will be finished. Game over." At the time I took it as a joke, or perhaps some braggadocio from a man who might have become somewhat detached from reality following the huge success of his party in the 2010 elections. Three years later, it turns out Mr. De...

A FAKE television news bulletin that Belgium was to split provoked outrage in both halves of the country yesterday."Irresponsible", "questionable" and "regrettable" were among the reactions from Belgium's political mainstream in both French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders after a fictional report that Flanders had declared independence. The prime minister Guy Verhofstadt's office described the bulletin as a "misplaced joke". A commission of the Francophone parliament was set to view RTBF's footage, which included a report that King Albert II had fled the country. Only much later during the broadcast did a subtitle reveal that the reports were fictional. The Francophone...