Local elections are all about
local people and local lists. Take
SP.A. You won’t find that party’s
initials on the ballot in Antwerp,
despite socialist mayor Patrick
Janssens heading the Stadslijst
(“city list”). In Hasselt, the same
party is known as Helemaal
Hasselt (“entirely Hasselt”),
while in Genk it is PROGenk.
Bart De Wever, the president
of the nationalist N-VA, has
dominated the headlines for
years now. Not just because of
politics; his personality also
makes for endless fascination,
as the recent launch of a book on
his spectacular diet once again
proved. Given all this, the road
to Antwerp city hall seemed wide
open for him – until Antwerp’s
sitting mayor Patrick Janssens
began his own campaign.
The Dutch elections, won by
liberal prime minister Mark
Rutte, are a rare ray of hope to
many a member of Open VLD,
for it is hard being a Flemish
liberal these days.
Nothing winds the Flemish up
more than taxes. Tax evasion is
seen as a national sport; many
find it justifiable as the tax rate
is so high. Others realise that
evasion is precisely one of the
reasons for the high rates.
In Ghent, the new Stadshal
has opened, amidst plenty of
controversy. Many other towns
and cities also hold receptions
for new sites and projects these
days, finished in time for the
local elections. This whirlwind
of municipal activity stands in
sharp contrast to the federal
government’s present state of
near lethargy.
From Sunday on, VTM will
broadcast Deadline 14/10,
the Flemish drama series that
has been likened to the Danish
award-winning series The
Killing. Deadline 14/10 mixes
fiction with reality, partially
set in Antwerp’s City Hall. It
focuses on the upcoming local
elections in Antwerp, with two
characters based on socialist
mayor Patrick Janssens and
his nationalist challenger Bart
De Wever. (So much so that
Janssens had hoped that it
would not be aired until after
14 October.)
Every legislation needs a trophy,
a symbolic issue addressed
to please at least one of the
coalition partners. What BHV
is for the Di Rupo legislation,
ethical issues such as euthanasia
and same-sex marriage were
for the Verhofstadt years. The
nuclear exit – an end to the
nuclear power production in
this country – was another of
Verhofstadt’s trophies.
Showing off his silver Fender
Stratocaster. This is how De
Standaard presented John
Crombez (SP.A) some days ago.
Now there was a side we had
not seen yet from the man who
was omnipresent in the media
since he became secretary of
state for Fraud Control.
Selahatin Koçak is no longer
a socialist. Koçak is known
throughout Flanders as “the
smartest Turk”, since he
appeared on the popular TV
quiz show De slimste mens
ter wereld, or The Smartest
Person in the World. Like Bart
De Wever, who owes much
of his popularity to the same
programme, Koçak, then
relatively unknown, delighted
TV audiences with his wit and
sense of humour. He became a
household name.
This column has mentioned the
split of the BHV constituency
many times. This split is part of
a package of measures known as
“state reform”. As Belgium tends
to change its institutions every
so many years, this is already
the sixth state reform. A far less
controversial part of it are the
alterations made to the Senate.
Flanders Today is a 
