$Unique_ID{COW00359} $Pretitle{370} $Title{Belgium Chapter 4C. Political Parties} $Subtitle{} $Author{Rinn-Sup Shinn} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{party parties social political national brussels state flemish cvp flanders} $Date{1984} $Log{} Country: Belgium Book: Belgium, A Country Study Author: Rinn-Sup Shinn Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1984 Chapter 4C. Political Parties Political parties play a central role in Belgian political life. They provide organized channels through which candidates to public offices and policy options are presented for public scrutiny and electoral support. Equally important, they constitute an extensive network of linkage between elites and masses, this network being a collection of various organizations that serve as distributors of benefits derived from state sources. Party-connected organizations provide cultural, medical, and social services for their members. They can be seen in effect as extra-state organizations performing vital intermediary services between the state and the grassroots. A sound party system is regarded as essential to the maintenance of parliamentary democracy in Belgium, and this is why the government continues to grant subsidies to the parties proportionate to the number of deputies and senators each party has in parliament. Although there were various minor parties and splinter groups, the three traditional political groupings-the Social Christians, Socialists, and Liberals-remained dominant in 1984. In the 1981 general elections the three groupings accounted for about 80 percent of the lower parliamentary chamber seats and about 73 percent of the national vote. In earlier years the percentages for both categories were higher by about 10 percent. This margin of decline was attributable to the rise of minor and new parties in the 1970s. Through the mid-1970s two or more of the traditional groupings controlled the seat of political power-the cabinet-more often than not in coalitions. As products of compromise and harmonization, the coalition governments generally militated against radical policy options. Frequently, the premium was on pragmatism and cooperation. Another facet of such governments has been what was known in Belgium as "immobilism" -the difficulty of finding lasting solutions to complex problems. Two political groups-one the Catholics and the other the Liberals-existed in Belgium at the time of independence, but they were not formally known as parties. These two groups and the Socialist movement, which entered the political scene later in the nineteenth century, evolved into what became known as the traditional parties. Besides their ideological distinctions, the traditional parties often mirrored cultural and regional differences, particularly in matters relating to language. Long before their formal split along linguistic lines after 1968, each had two wings or factions based on linguistic identifications (see Consolidation of the System, ch. 1). Social Christian Parties In 1945 the Catholic Bloc, as it was then called, was renamed the Social Christian Party (CVP/PSC-known as Social Christians). Cutting its formal links with the Catholic church, the party wanted to recast its image as a broadly based mass organization. Dating back to the 1880s, the Social Christians played a leading role in coalition with other parties for all but a few years (1946-47 and 1954-58). In 1968 the party formally split over a major linguistic dispute, becoming two separate parties-the CVP and the PSC. In Flanders it became the Christian People's Party (CVP); in Wallonia it remained the Social Christian Party (PSC). In the early 1980s both the CVP and the PSC remained moderate and centrist and committed to the principle of "Christian personalism" -the principle that every citizen should be accorded an ample opportunity to cultivate his personality to its fullest potential free from the fear of poverty, unemployment, sickness, and alienation. This principle was to be realized through the reconciliation of class interests without resort to the extremes of left and right and without overt reference to ecclesiastical ties. The CVP and PSC did not compete with each other and confined their activities to their respective regions. Brussels was an open territory, and given the largely French-speaking population of the city, the PSC had a distinct advantage. On the national level, however, the CVP was the much larger of the two in terms of membership, seats in parliament, and popular votes. Both appealed to broad strata of the population on almost identical platforms, except where community and regional interests were concerned. On the whole, the CVP was more left-leaning than the PSC because of its appeal to industrial workers and their unions. In contrast, the PSC was perceived to be more conservative and "bourgeois," having fewer supporters from the ranks of industrial workers. The two were headquartered in Brussels and had nearly identical but distinctly separate organizations. Technically, the national congress was the supreme policymaking body for each; actually, the most important national organ was the party bureau, chaired by the party president. The president and some 20 select members of the bureau played a significant role in policymaking, in day-to-day implementation of party decisions, in coalition building, and in liaison between the CVP and PSC on the one side and with other non-Social Christian parties on the other. The bureau members were elected by the national council chosen earlier by the national congress, which met every second month to discuss current policy issues and to carry out the function of party supervision on behalf of the national congress. The congress, council, and bureau organs also exist at the provincial, arrondissement, and commune levels. Interparty coordination at the national level was maintained through a liaison group composed of key party officials from both sides. Recommendations of the group were usually endorsed by the leaders of each party. For the purpose of coalition building, the two parties presented themselves as a single CVP/PSC bloc. As the larger of the two in the Social Christian grouping, the CVP has provided all the prime ministers since 1968, except in 1978-79, when the prime minister was from the PSC. In Flanders the CVP remained the dominant party in 1984, even though it had suffered a major electoral reversal in 1981 (see Major Political Developments, 1980-84, this ch.). Its nearest rivals were the Socialists. It had a membership of 130,000 in Flanders and Brussels in the early 1980s, drawing about one-half of its electoral support from workers and farmers. The remaining support came from such middle-class categories as white-collar workers, small businessmen and traders, shopkeepers, artisans, smallholders, managers, and a small percentage of "bourgeois" elements. A majority of all practicing Catholics in Flanders were believed to be voting for the CVP, which, despite its "deconfessionalized" status, was widely viewed as the Catholic party and as being more committed to the defense of church interests than any other party. The CVP, like its French-speaking counterpart, appealed to all social classes by taking a more or less centrist position. The diversity of socioeconomic interests to which the parties appealed had its predictable consequences: the existence of left-wing and right-wing schisms within both the CVP and the PSC. For the 1981 elections the CVP supported the 1980 reform of the state on condition that Brussels was not given a regional status on par with Flanders and Wallonia. On other issues it advocated cuts in public spending through cost-conscious methods of management, free enterprise, free education, reduced state interventionism, adequate family allowances and social services, and solidarity with the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In Wallonia the PSC was a minority party, third in size of membership after the Socialists and Liberals, and yet it has been part of the ruling coalition continuously since 1958. Its electoral base was spread evenly between the working class of farmers and workers and the middle class. More than one-half of all practicing Catholics voted for the PSC. The party received about 20 percent of the regional workers' vote and was overshadowed by the Socialists. The party had the same moderate and pragmatic approach as the CVP. On education and abortion the PSC sided with the church. On economic issues it has called for spending cuts, support for the family, and reform in the social security system for the benefit of the underprivileged. It has stressed opposition to capital flight and the borrowing of money from foreign sources. In foreign affairs it has continued to espouse a strong defense posture centered on NATO and more rapid European integration. For years the PSC was given to more internal schism than its Flemish counterpart. Marked left-right tendencies led to confusion and occasional defections. Many of the party's bourgeois elements were identified with the aggressively probusiness right wing called the Political Center for Independents and Christian Cadres. The left wing called itself the Christian Democrats and was under considerable pressure from the Federation of Belgian Christian Trade Unions (ACV/CSC), the largest trade union in the country, and the militant Christian Workers Movement (ACW/MOC). Liberal Parties The Liberals were the first to organize a political movement in Belgium, in 1846. Along with the Catholics, they were one of the two dominant political groups from the 1830s to 1894, when the Socialists emerged as a third major political force, owing to the first election held in that year under qualified universal male suffrage. From the beginning the Liberals were strong on anticlericalism, gradualism in social change, free enterprise, and individualism. The anticlerical bias was toned down in the late 1950s, and in 1961 the Liberal Party rechristened itself the Party of Liberty and Progress (PVV/PLP-known as the Liberals) in an effort to broaden its electoral base. A proponent of a strong unitary state, the PVV/PLP was the only major party in the 1968 election to present unified electoral lists throughout the country; it received nearly 21 percent of the national vote. The linguistic and communal conflict eventually overtook the Liberals, however, causing their split in 1972 into two autonomous wings. The Dutch-speaking wing retained its old name, but the French-speaking wing, after several years of fusions and reorganizations, became the Party for Reform and Liberty (PRL) in June 1979. In 1984 the Liberals, smallest of the three traditional political families, continued to offer an alternative as a coalition partner, as demonstrated in the marriage of convenience with the Social Christians from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1981 on. In the 1981 elections the Liberals made a substantial gain in all regions at the polls at the expense of the Social Christians, attracting support from the upper and middle classes. Their share of the working-class vote was, understandably, the lowest. In 1981 the right-of-center platform advocated greater private enterprise, leaner bureaucracy and state enterprises, reduced public spending, rational management of the social security system based on greater selectivity, restraint on trade union pressures, and a stronger defense policy. One notable difference between the PVV and PRL was the question of regionalization. Although both parties endorsed the 1980 reform of the state, the French-speaking Liberals also wanted full regional status for Brussels. Like the Social Christians, Liberals had separate organizations but collaborated for coalition bargaining. Their organizations existed at the national, provincial, arrondissement, and commune levels. The top party organ for each was the national congress, made up of all party members. Between congresses, a bureau (for PRL) and a political committee (for PVV) exercised the power of general supervision and policymaking, and the day-to-day party affairs were run by an executive under the national party president. The two parties shared the services of a joint political research institute, the Paul Hymans Study Center. Socialist Parties In 1885 the Socialists formed the Belgian Workers Party, prompted by the growing worker's movement in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. By the 1920s they had become the second largest political family after the Social Christians but larger than the Liberals. In 1945 the party changed its name to the Belgian Socialist Party (BSP/PSB-known as the Socialists), but its anticlerical, reformist, and pragmatic character was left unchanged. As they gained respectability with their moderate, parliamentary path to social change, the Socialists were able to participate in intermittent government coalitions, starting in 1916, and even managed to form an all-Socialist government in 1946. The government lasted for only 15 days, however, because of its failure to win a parliamentary vote of confidence-the only such instance in the history of Belgium. Disputes over regionalization and the attendant intraparty tension led to the holding of separate Socialist congresses as early as 1967, and in the 1968 election the two wings presented separate electoral lists. In 1971 the party adopted a system of dual presidency under the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking leaders. Finally, in 1978 the party split into the SP in Flanders and the PS in Wallonia. (The party as a whole, however, was still referred to as the Socialists.) Separate organizations were maintained at national, provincial, arrondissement, and commune levels. The highest party organ for each was the national congress, whose supervisory and policymaking functions were performed by a general council between its sessions. The executive arm of the congress and general council was the bureau. The Walloon Socialists were more left-of-center than the Flemish Socialists because of a strong tradition of political activism among workers in the region's older industrial cities. Democratic socialism, based on a strong social welfare system and a modified free enterprise economy, remained the goal of the Socialists on both sides of the linguistic boundaries. The Socialist platform has called for economic planning, full employment, state interventionism with only moderate restraint on public spending, a more equitable tax system, a national health service, the regionalization of the five key industrial sectors, and the nationalization of such sectors as energy and banking. In the social field it has called for assistance to the disadvantaged, youth, and women; legalized abortion; better health care and housing; environmental and consumer protection; and opposition to cutbacks in unemployment benefits. In foreign affairs both parties stood for the NATO alliance and European integration. On the issue of nuclear weapons and neutron bombs, however, the Flemish party has supported a nuclear-free zone in western and central Europe. The deployment of Pershing and cruise missiles on Belgian territory was opposed as a tension- producing and provocative act. The Walloon party, in contrast, has argued for linkage between non-deployment and East-West detente (see Belgium and NATO, ch. 5). The Volksunie In 1954 the People's Union (Volksunie-VU) became the first nonclerical, nonideological party organized essentially along an ethnolinguistic-cultural line. Its avowed aim was to promote Flemish nationalism in a federation allowing maximum autonomy for Flanders. The VU favored a reconstruction of Belgium into autonomous Flemish and Walloon regions and the placing of the bilingual and predominantly French-speaking Brussels under the central government. Its contention was that Brussels should be a neutral national capital and its facilities open to all sides on an equitable basis. By 1971 the VU had emerged as the fourth largest party after the three traditional party families. The party's political base was mostly in Flanders, and there was a small following in Brussels. Its initial platform was designed to elevate the status of the Dutch-speaking community to that of the traditionally more influential French-speaking community. After the late 1960s the VU began to reorient its line to a broader audience in an attempt to attract dissatisfied supporters from the traditional parties, which it argued had failed to address the problem of unfulfilled Flemish aspirations. More than one-half of the VU voters were from the middle and upper classes, workers and farmers accounting for the rest. On balance, the VU was a centrist party, eschewing extremist lines, and of course it was unabashedly nationalist. It continued to advocate a federal state, fiscal discipline, social and cultural assistance on a more selective basis, abolition of aid to ailing firms, regionalization of five key industrial sectors, more effective regional investment policies, and the nationalization of the arms industry. A prominent election campaign slogan in 1981 was "Flemish money in Flemish hands and a Flemish state" -an allusion to the prevailing view in Flanders that Flemish revenues should not be shared with Wallonia. In foreign affairs the party argued for nuclear disarmament and opposed the deployment of NATO cruise missiles on Belgian territory. The Walloon Rally The mirror image of the VU in Wallonia is the French-speaking nationalist group, the Walloon Rally (RW), formed in 1968 to counter the rise of Flemish nationalism. The RW was formed as an amalgamation of several pro-Walloon groups and disaffected members of the three traditional parties. The party was pragmatic and evoked much of its support from the working and middle classes. By 1971 it had become the second largest party in Wallonia, but it suffered occasional defections and splits, as well as realignments and fusions with other political groups. In the early 1980s the RW continued to advocate full regional status for Brussels, a condition seen as essential to any fruitful dialogue with the Flemings. At the time the party was leaning toward the left, especially on the issue of intercommunity dialogue. In 1976 the faction favoring dialogue with Flanders had left the RW to join the Walloon Socialists and later merged with the Walloon Liberals. For the 1981 election the party stood for free enterprise, tempered by necessary state intervention to create new jobs. It demanded that the central government's "unjust" economic policy favoring Flanders be terminated to reverse economic deterioration and job losses in Wallonia. Apart from the regionalization of key industrial sectors, the RW argued that Wallonia should have full autonomous power over the formulation of spending priorities. On social matters the party called for reasonable minimum incomes for the neediest, equality between the sexes, and the state financing of sickness insurance, pensions, and family allowances. In foreign affairs it stood left of center, demanding reduced defense spending, cessation of the arms race, the dismantling of nuclear weapons, and reconversion of the arms industry. The Democratic Front of Francophones The interests of the French-speaking majority in metropolitan Brussels have been the chief concerns of the Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF), set up in 1964. The party's aim has been to protect French-speaking rights, to oppose the "Flemicization" of Brussels, and to strengthen its links with Wallonia. The FDF frequently entered into electoral alliance with the RW. Its electoral support came mostly from the middle and upper classes, and the platform, which was essentially centrist, included selective features associated with the three traditional parties. In the 1981 election the FDF lost its status as the largest party in Brussels, slipping into second place behind the Liberals, whose gains were as substantial there as they were elsewhere. In the early 1980s the FDF pressed for full regional status for Brussels and for the redrawing of its city limits to include surrounding areas beyond the 19 communes. The Flemish demand for linguistic parity in the administrative and educational facilities of the city was rejected outright. The FDF demanded that Brussels be given fiscal autonomy and contended that the central government should allocate more funds to the city. The party claimed that the central government's employment policy favored Flemings in Brussels and demanded that the jobs currently held by them be taken over by French speakers. Also included in the party's platform were measures for the regionalization of the five key industrial and banking sectors, improvement of the city's infrastructure and social services, women's rights, environmental protection, protection of the French speakers' school system, and cooperation between the state and Catholic school systems. In foreign affairs the party was strong on European integration; in opposing unilateral disarmament, it favored mutual and balanced force reduction through negotiations. The Communists and Other Small Parties The Belgian Communist Party (KPB/PCB) was founded in 1921 by a splinter group of the Belgian Workers Party. Unlike other traditional parties, the KPB/PCB remained unsplit on linguistic lines in 1984 and supported the concept of democratic federalism, meaning equal regional status for Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels. In the early 1980s the Communists sought to steer an independent course between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the other European communist parties. The Communists in 1984 were voiceless in national or regional affairs. Their electoral base shrank steadily after 1946, when they polled a surprising 22 percent of the national vote; in fact, between 1944 and 1947 the Communists were able to participate in several coalition governments. Their share of the vote in the 1981 elections was only 2.3 percent. The decline was attributable to the success of other parties in attracting the support of workers and to schisms in the 1960s and 1970s between the pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese cliques of the party. The communist movement was most active in the industrial cities of Wallonia. For partisan political purposes the Communists demanded greater state control of private enterprises, banks, and multinational corporations-instead of outright nationalization of the economic sectors. Their empathy for federalism also included support for the regionalization of all economic sectors. Their foreign policy program called for an active policy of peace and detente linked to such options as a nuclear-free zone for Europe, opposition to cruise missiles and neutron bombs, and the dissolution of all military alliances, including NATO and the Warsaw Pact. In the early 1980s there were a number of small political groups espousing various ideological and policy alternatives. Among these were the Party of the German-Speaking Belgians (PDB), founded in 1971 to promote the welfare of the German-speaking minority in the eastern border area, where the PDB held second place after the French-speaking Social Christians; and the United Feminist Party (VFP/PFU), formed in 1972 to advance the feminist cause. These groups have had no impact on the national scene. Three of the better known of the minor parties were formed in 1978, in time to contest the general elections of December 17, 1978. One was the Flemish Bloc (VB), a militant, right-wing Flemish national group. The VB, a splinter from the VU, espoused total Flemish secession from Belgium and independence for Flanders, which would then form a confederation with the Netherlands. It stood for free enterprise, minimum state intervention, limited public spending, and elimination of subsidies to political parties, the press, cultural groups, and insolvent enterprises. It also called for solidarity with the NATO alliance and mutual and balanced force reduction. In the 1981 elections the party received 66,442 votes nationally, or 1.1 percent of the total vote. The second minor party was the Democratic Union for the Respect for Work (RAD/UDRT). Often this movement was characterized as an antiparty party or even an "anarchist" party. It was essentially antiestablishmentarian, scorning established parties and networks of support groups associated with them. The RAD/UDRT lumped all established groups with influential political and economic leverage as a "political class" that should be eliminated. Rejecting "the dictatorship of the unions and employers," the party called for total economic freedom and a drastic reduction of taxation; elimination of state interventionism, new taxes "excessive" social welfare benefits, and aid to ailing and unproductive enterprises; the privatization of semipublic enterprises and much of the social welfare system; and a balanced budget through constitutional amendment. The third organization was the Ecologists Party (Agalev/Ecolo). It appealed to all regions and all social and ideological tendencies, offering "a real political alternative." It called for the introduction of popular referenda as a real and effective means of sounding grass-roots opinions and choices and encouraging popular participation in the political process. Among its demands were a 34-hour workweek, federalism, more taxes on the wealthy, a more effective peacekeeping capability of the United Nations, and opposition to the arms race. In 1981 it polled 4.8 percent of the national vote, or about 290,000 votes-a substantial increase from its 0.8 percent share in 1978. The party received more support from Brussels and Wallonia than from Flanders.