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M. ERGÜN OLGUN, DIRK ROCHTUS
The Belgian system is designed
to facilitate, as the highest
priority, coordination and
concentration between
its components, and the
maintenance of Belgian unity
“Alarm Bell Procedure”
This is a last resort mechanism
whereby a community by a three-quarters
majority of its members can halt
a legislative process if it believes that a
law proposed by the other community
affects its interests. The matter is then
taken up at the Council of Ministers. If unresolved, the Prime Minister, as a matter
of priority, prepares and sends a compromise law to the Parliament. If this fails as
well, the Government has to resign and new elections are called. This threat acts as
an incentive on all sides to try to resolve the issue and has had a dissuading effect.
It has therefore rarely been resorted to.
The Greek Cypriot political class has, in the past, rejected a Turkish Cypriot
proposal to this effect, arguing that it could be a source of instability. The Greek
Cypriot side has consistently argued, however, that the deadlock-resolving mechanisms
of the 2004 UN Plan were insufficient; the new Greek Cypriot political
elite may now see some deterrence value in the “Alarm Bell Procedure.”
A Federal Monarchy
Although its powers are declining, the tradition of monarchy in Belgium allows
the monarch to stand above the ethnic divide when necessary and act as a
bonding force. We see an increasing of his role in the political crisis that haunted
Belgium in the period 2007-08, and recently in July 2008 when he refused the
resignation of Prime Minister Yves Leterme and requested “Three Mediators” to
look further for a solution to the political crisis.
There is no monarchy tradition in Cyprus.
Three Regions
In addition to the Flemish region (Dutch speaking) and the Walloon region
(French speaking), there is the third Brussels Capital region in Belgium, which,
as a big international capital, has its own international community and can act as
a unifying force or shock absorber between the two other regions. As such, it is
the meeting place of the Flemish and French communities. At the same time it is
the “symbolic” capital of the Flemish, and the fear that the Flemish would lose it
in case of a Belgian divorce, also functions as an obstacle to separatist tendencies
among some radicalized Flemish circles.