Weverian Silence
Updated: May 11
For years, Bart De Wever said that this country is fundamentally broken, that Belgium doesn't work, and that Flanders is systematically undermined by the federal compromise model. He led the N-VA - a party whose very name carries the message: New Flemish Alliance. Not Belgian, but Flemish. Many Flemish people followed him, hoping he would remain true to that principle. But today we must ask ourselves: is Flanders still his priority?
Since becoming prime minister, his course seems to have changed. The man who criticised the Belgian system now defends it. He who spoke of Flemish independence today speaks mainly of concessions. His political stature is greater than ever, but his ideological sharpness appears to have dulled.
Look at what is really happening. Belgium still ranks among the countries with the highest tax burden on labour in the world: more than half of the wage cost goes to taxes and social contributions. Entrepreneurship is stifled, because hiring people is expensive. For employees it is no better: a large portion of their salary disappears to the state. Working pays too little, while not working is discouraged too little.
At the same time, Flanders drives the economy. More than 80% of exports come from Flanders, while in Wallonia up to three times more people are unemployed. Yet every year up to 7 billion euros flows from Flanders to Wallonia, money that disappears into a system that does not resolve inequality but perpetuates it.
And then there is migration. In 2025, there were around 35,000 asylum applications in Belgium, and those not permitted to stay often don't leave either. In cities and municipalities, the street scene is visibly changing. In Brussels schools, more than half of pupils have an Islamic background. It is of course not just about numbers, but about values that are not shared. Equality between men and women, freedom of expression, and the separation of church and state, urgent themes that are buried under a Weverian silence. Because what does this government offer? No clear choices, but spineless compromises, as we have come to expect from Belgian politicians.
Perhaps that is the most disillusioning thing of all: not that De Wever makes compromises, but that he seems to have forgotten why so many people once trusted him. Flanders did not ask for a perfect politician, but for someone who dared to name what is going wrong and was willing to take risks for it. Today the impression prevails of a prime minister who no longer wants to change the system, but simply wants to manage it. And so the greatest paradox of his career threatens to become reality: that the man who for years warned of Belgian stagnation has ultimately become its very face.
Image credits: Belgian Federal Government
