History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 24

was flooded with calls from concerned French speakers. It was only a half hour after
the beginning of the broadcast that the disclaimer "This is fiction" was displayed. It
was revealed that the programme had been broadcast to stimulate discussion of this
subject[6].
Belgian federal elections
The 2007 elections showed an extraordinary outcome in terms of support for Flemish
autonomy. All the political parties that advocated a significant increase of Flemish
autonomy increased their share of the votes and seats in the Belgian parliament. This
was especially the case for CD&V and N-VA (forming a cartel). In addition, the very
assertive Lijst Dedecker gained a spectacular entry in parliament. It got even slightly
ahead of the greens (Groen!) which rather disappointed. The outright secessionist
Vlaams Belang remained strong, but stalled. The main parties advocating more or less
the current Belgian institutiona and only modest increases in Flemish autonomy
severely lost (OpenVLD, Groen! and especially SP.A).
These victories for the advocates of much more Flemish autonomy are very much in
parallel with opinion polls that show a structural increase in popular support for their
agenda.
Several negotiators having come and gone since the last federal elections of 10 June
2007 without diminishing the disagreements between Flemish and Walloon politicians
regarding a further State reform, continues to prevent the formation of the federal
government.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Main article: Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
Both the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region are constitutional institutions of
the Kingdom of Belgium with precise geographical boundaries. In practice, the
Flem ish Community and Region together form a single body, with its own parliament
and government, as the Community legally absorbed the competences of the Region.
The area of the Flemish Community is represented on the maps above, including the
area of the Brussels-Capital Region (hatched on the relevant map). Roughly, the
Flemish Community exercises competences originally oriented towards the individuals
of the Community's language: culture (including audiovisual media), education, and
the use of the language. Extensions to personal matters less directly associated with
language comprise sports, health policy (curative and preventive medicine), and
assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families, immigrant
assistance services, etc.).
The area of the Flemish Region is represented on the maps above. It has a population
of around 6 million (excluding the Dutch-speaking community in the Brussels Region,
grey on the map for it is not a part of the Flemish Region). Roughly, the Flemish
Region is responsible for territorial issues in a broad sense, including economy,
employment, agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the
environment, town and country planning, nature conservation, credit, and foreign
trade. It supervises the provinces, municipalities, and intercommunal utility companies.

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