AP interview with Mayor of district in bilingual dispute

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST 1. Wide of Brussels town hall 2. Mid of Belgian flag 3. Set up of Freddy Thielemans, socialist mayor of Brussels 4. SOUNDBITE: (French) Freddy Thielemans, socialist mayor of Brussels: "In the same way as in the Brussels Region, where the Flemish minority is very protected, is strictly protected, we think that Flanders has to give the same protection to French speaking citizens. If this is not the case, there must be a popular consultation and see if the population concerned want to stay in the new district or to enter in the Brussels region." 5. Mid of people on square, Belgian flags at windows 6. SOUNDBITE: (French) Freddy Thielemans, socialist mayor of Brussels: "I think that this declaration is very nationalistic and is firstly very near to the Flemish far right movement demands and I am surprised that democratic parties follow that demand, and I also think it is de facto the end of a shared living, that's something that goes beyond my belief." 7. Mid of house on main square with Belgian flag 8. Thielemans leaving STORYLINE: Five months after elections, government negotiations to reform power-sharing between Belgium's six (m) million Dutch-speaking Flemings and 4.5 million (m) Francophones collapsed on Wednesday, throwing the nation further into political crisis. French-speaking parties walked out of a parliamentary vote on the linguistic carve-up of an electoral district in and around Brussels, arguing it was an unacceptable unilateral Flemish move. In an exclusive interview with AP Television, Freddy Thielemans, the socialist mayor of Brussels, expressed his view on the political crisis and Wednesday's parliamentary vote. "I think that this declaration is very nationalistic and is firstly very near to the Flemish far right movement demands and I am surprised that democratic parties follow that demand, and I also think it is de facto the end of a shared living, that's something that goes beyond my belief," he said. Thielemans also pleaded for a protection of the Francophones living in Flanders equal to the Dutch-speaking Flemings living in the Brussels Region. "In the same way as in the Brussels Region, where the Flemish minority is very protected, is strictly protected, we think that Flanders has to give the same protection to French speaking citizens," he said. "If this is not the case, there must be a popular consultation and see with the concerned population if they want to stay in the new district or to enter in the Brussels region," he added. Belgium has already broken the record of 148 days without a government on Monday. It is now up to King Albert to decide how to get out of the impasse. There was talk of moving towards a government that would only take care of urgent political and economic business, leaving the linguistic disputes for later - perhaps years later. Late on Tuesday, government negotiator Yves Leterme put forward a compromise to Christian Democrat and Liberal parties from both sides of the language border that slices Belgium into Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and Francophone Wallonia in the south. Flemish negotiators accepted the plan as a basis for more talks, but their Francophone counterparts rejected it. Politicians and pundits braced for one of the biggest political crises for the past half century in Belgium, a country where linguistic issues always lurk just below the surface of politics. Leterme was the big winner of the June 10 elections but failed to achieve palpable progress on the two most divisive issues - the rights of the Francophone minority living in Flanders close to Brussels and a further devolution of powers to the regions. in a rare show of public patriotism. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e4a0b9004471161af6f2a2232f2d93c5 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork