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Tue 07 Jul 2008Belgium's deep linguistic divide overshadows political dialogue
EUROPEAN DIARY:Francophone and Flemish parties cannot agree on forming a new government, writes Jamie Smyth
THE CROWDS turned out on Belgian national day yesterday but the political mood was as gloomy as the wet weather with little sign of compromise between the two linguistic communities. For the second year in a row the annual celebration of the formation of Belgium on July 21st, 1831, was overshadowed by squabbling between Flemish and Francophone political parties over the amount of power that should be devolved to each region.
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