Belgium May Get New Govt
(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) BRUSSELS, June 10. Belgium, now in the fifth month of its longest political crisis, appears to be on the verge of forming a new coalition Government.
After a month’s hard bargaining, the Social Christian (Roman Catholic) and Socialist parties—the two largest in the country—have agreed on the broad outline of a Government programme. But three important issues today remain to be approved —all linked to the bitter French-Flemish language dispute which brought down the Social Christian-Liberal (Conservative) coalition last February 7. Inconclusive elections on March 31 brought new gains to French and Flemish extremists.
The only real issue was the future of relations between the 5,000,000 Dutch-speaking Flemings in the north, and
the 3,500,000 French-speaking Walloons in the south. Brussels, the capital, is a bilingual enclave of 1,500,000 people surrounded by Flemishspeaking territory. The three issues concerned are the future limits of the Brussels area, parents’ freedom to select French or Flemish classes for their children in the capital and the future of Les Fourons, a cluster of villages which straddle the country's language border.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31702, 11 June 1968, Page 17
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181Belgium May Get New Govt Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31702, 11 June 1968, Page 17
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