Flemish Community Day marked by politics and partying

The annual Flemish Community Day on Tuesday was recognised and celebrated with a speech by the region’s first citizen, a massive dance battle and live music across Flanders and Brussels.

The holiday is recognised every 11 July, the date of the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, when a Flemish infantry, made up mostly of tradesmen, beat a much more professional battalion of French knights in the boggy fields of what is now West Flanders. The battle has become emblematic of Flemish pride, autonomy and language rights.

In his traditional 11 July speech in Brussels’ city hall, Flemish parliament speaker Jan Peumans picked up on a theme discussed the day before by minister-president Geert Bourgeois: an independent foreign policy for Flanders, with its own diplomatic authority to take part in a changing Europe.

The Flemish diplomatic corps and department of foreign affairs, he said, also had to be backed by an independent foreign policy and its own negotiators. Too much is at stake in the talks on Brexit, for example, for the work to be left to federal representatives. “Great Britain is for Flanders a much too important partner,” he said.

Across the region, meanwhile, celebrations took place, including the fifth edition of Brussel Danst, which attracted 10,000 visitors to the capital for concerts on Grote Markt, the annual dance battle on Muntplein and sing-alongs at the Beurs. Antwerp’s Vlaanderen Feest on Grote Markt attracted some 5,500 for a bill that included K3, Ingeborg and Yevgueni.

In related news, Bourgeois’ speech on the eve of Flemish Community Day garnered several reactions. The minister-president had called for a new round of state reforms and more powers for the regions.

For coalition partner Open VLD, new reforms “are not the first priority”. According to CD&V president Wouter Beke, “it’s clear that the sixth round of reforms was not the last. But let’s get on with implementing those reforms first”.

Paul Magnette, minister-president of Wallonia, said that, while reforms are not on the agenda, the holiday traditionally served as an opportunity to re-open the issue. “A Flemish Community Day without a call for new state reform is like a cafe without beer or mussels without fries,” he said.

Prime minister Charles Michel said that his priorities are “jobs, jobs, jobs. There are elections in 2019. Let’s wait and see what the voters choose to do”.

Photo, from left: Prime minister Charles Michel, Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois and Senate chair Christine Defraigne during the government’s reception on Flemish Community Day ©Nicolas Maeterlinck/BELGA