#5 Part of the problem is the long period of alternating caretaker and short-lived governments, when virtually no dcisions could be or were made. To repeat the history I posted in another thread:
Following the June 2007 elections there was a problem putting together a new coalition to form a new government, so the previous government officially acted as a caretaker from Dec. 2007 - March 2008, charged with handling day to day running of the federal government, but forbidden to make any new decisions.
A new government was sworn in on March 20, 2008. For whatever reason, they offered their resignation on July 15, 2008, which the king refused, then resigned again in December 2008.
A new government was sworn in on Dec. 30, 2008, then resigned in Nov. 2009.
A new government was sworn in on Nov. 25, 2009, then resigned in April 2010, but agreed to stay on as caretaker -- again running the day to day needs of the government but making no new decisions -- until a new government formed following the upcoming elections in June 2010. It took until December 2011 for a new coalition government to be formed, a world record for a country to go without a proper government. The Belgians have much cause to be grateful that they live in a federation with much local self-governance, and not under a unitary national government, like France.
The election in 2014 resulted in a new government forming promptly, but there was a long period when none of the decisions necessary to dealing with the rising jihadi threat could be made. |
[DailyBeast] U.S. counterterrorism officials are frustrated and angry at Belgium's inability to tackle ISIS terror cells that are successfully plotting murderous attacks on the West from inside the country's tiny capital city.