Juan Carlos' abdication relaunched the debate over the king in Belgium
by Emanuele Bonini
In Spain time changes: Juan Carlos' reign ends and Felipe's starts. After thirty nine years at the head of the Spanish monarchy Juan Carlos announced his abdication opening the path to his son. «I abdicate in order to open a new stage of hope where experience acquired meet with new generation impulse», he said. Pleasant surprise, simple curiosity, irony and even a bit of malice: Belgians reacted in very different way to the announcement made by Juan Carlos of Spain and, of course, as usual they split up. «Finally», posted a Flemish reader on the website of one the most popular in-French newspapers. «Abdications it's not a shame, there's nothing wrong in saying "I'm old and tired" opening to younger generations», replied Marie. In her opinion «Albert II of Belgium and Beatrix of the Netherlands had the intelligence to do so». These different points of view as well as this exchange of opinions are typically Belgian. They reflect a reality of a country divided on everything, monarchy included. Like one year ago, when king Albert II abdicated leaving the throne to Philippe, Belgians come back to their traditional divisions. As usual Flemings are against the crown. Ordinary life for people traditionally accustomed to dislike the king, maybe even for the Francophone nature of the royal house. «One king leaves, long live to the king», wrote ironically a reader from Leuven, Flemish town of Belgium. Even more caustic was B.C. «I'm going to tell it to my horse. It will be really happy to receive such a new», he wrote about Juan Carlos' abdication. P. Fressen, other Flemish name, stated that Juan Carlos' «was the right choice for the future of the Spanish monarchy... The republic?».
So Spanish royal family's affairs inflamed the debate in Belgium, a country where Flemish party Vlaams Belang asks for independence from the north. Nearly one year ago, the 21st of July, Flemings remained indifferent to Albert II's abdication with French speakers happy for the new monarch. Now Belgium lies again to the same situation. «In criticising Juan Carlos certain people forget how Spain owe to its king», posted another Belgian reader. Well, maybe Juan Carlos' abdication will help Spain, but certainly is not helping Belgians.
In Spain time changes: Juan Carlos' reign ends and Felipe's starts. After thirty nine years at the head of the Spanish monarchy Juan Carlos announced his abdication opening the path to his son. «I abdicate in order to open a new stage of hope where experience acquired meet with new generation impulse», he said. Pleasant surprise, simple curiosity, irony and even a bit of malice: Belgians reacted in very different way to the announcement made by Juan Carlos of Spain and, of course, as usual they split up. «Finally», posted a Flemish reader on the website of one the most popular in-French newspapers. «Abdications it's not a shame, there's nothing wrong in saying "I'm old and tired" opening to younger generations», replied Marie. In her opinion «Albert II of Belgium and Beatrix of the Netherlands had the intelligence to do so». These different points of view as well as this exchange of opinions are typically Belgian. They reflect a reality of a country divided on everything, monarchy included. Like one year ago, when king Albert II abdicated leaving the throne to Philippe, Belgians come back to their traditional divisions. As usual Flemings are against the crown. Ordinary life for people traditionally accustomed to dislike the king, maybe even for the Francophone nature of the royal house. «One king leaves, long live to the king», wrote ironically a reader from Leuven, Flemish town of Belgium. Even more caustic was B.C. «I'm going to tell it to my horse. It will be really happy to receive such a new», he wrote about Juan Carlos' abdication. P. Fressen, other Flemish name, stated that Juan Carlos' «was the right choice for the future of the Spanish monarchy... The republic?».
So Spanish royal family's affairs inflamed the debate in Belgium, a country where Flemish party Vlaams Belang asks for independence from the north. Nearly one year ago, the 21st of July, Flemings remained indifferent to Albert II's abdication with French speakers happy for the new monarch. Now Belgium lies again to the same situation. «In criticising Juan Carlos certain people forget how Spain owe to its king», posted another Belgian reader. Well, maybe Juan Carlos' abdication will help Spain, but certainly is not helping Belgians.
No comments:
Post a Comment