Flemish nationalist leader rounds on Belgian king

Firebrand nationalist leader Bart De Wever on Thursday rounded on the Belgian king, saying he had overstepped his role and should move aside after meddling in political issues. "The crown must be above the political arena so that he can represent all the people," De Wever wrote in the Flemish De Standaard daily. "King Albert II is not filling this role properly. He has chosen the path of a royalty of division. His Christmas message was the pitiful height of it," he said. King Albert, 78, said Monday in his traditional Christmas address to a country deeply divided between its Flemish- and French-speaking halves, that Belgians needed to be "vigilant ... in the face of populist words". He warned too of the parallels with the 1930s, which saw the rise of fascism in a Europe sunk deep in depression, but cited no names. De Wever took the remarks to be aimed at him, a view shared by the Flemish press, after his New Flemish Alliance party (N-VA) recently won control of Antwerp, Belgium's second city, to put him in pole position ahead of 2014 national elections. The king "takes me for a fascist. After this Christmas message, I wonder if he can continue to play his role," De Wever said, according to extracts published in De Morgen of an interview to be broadcast later Thursday. "A politicised monarchy is incompatible with democracy," he said, adding it was "scandalous" that Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, a Socialist French-speaker, had approved the king's address. "The king and the Socialist Party find common ground in rejecting the democratic choice of a great part of the Flemish people," De Wever said. Without actually calling for the king to step down, De Wever said "another system" should be in place for the 2014 polls since the monarch would not be able to play his proper role as impartial arbitrator. De Wever, now major of Antwerp, makes no secret of his ultimate aim for a separate Flemish republic anchored in Europe and blames a French, spendthrift south for most of the country's economic problems. Di Rupo heads a coalition government of leftist and centrist parties from both sides of the language divide which took office in 2011 only after De Wever finally allowed it to go through some 18 months after elections. Since then, De Wever has called for Belgium to adopt a purely ceremonial monarchy, like that of the neighbouring Netherlands where the prime minister is designated by Parliament, not by the crown. This change, he has argued previously, should come about immediately after the 2014 elections, which De Wever is widely expected to sweep in Flemish areas. In response to De Wever's remarks, officials and other political leaders took him to task, saying the king had every right, if he saw fit, to warn over the dangers facing the country. They noted how Spain's King Juan Carlos had called attention too, in his Christmas message, to the political uncertainties caused by a deepening economic crisis which has stoked separatist sentiment, especially in Catalonia. The leader of the Flemish Christian Democrats, however, noted that it was perhaps "not wise" to have referred to the 1930s, an emotive issue. The latest exchanges were in keeping with De Wever's record, said political analyst Pierre Verjans at the University of Liege. De Wever is an aggressive politician who wants to change the system, using every development to his advantage, Verjans said.