Divided on Immigration, Two Models for Integration. The Multilevel Governance of Immigration and Integration in Belgium

Abstract

Since the federal elections of 2007, and especially since the new elections in 2010 which led to a new government after a world record-breaking 541 days of negotiations, elites from both sides of the language frontier in Belgium have had extreme difficulty in agreeing on nearly anything. As a result, the possibility of dividing the country has been seriously discussed. Although the final government formation in December 2011 brought a temporary ‘armed peace’¹ between the political elites of both linguistic communities, this is widely considered as a temporary and very delicate solution until the federal elections of 2014. In these elections, the Flemish nationalist party NV-A, favouring an independent Flanders, is expected to gain such electoral success that the future of Belgium will — again — no longer be certain. Although not the main source of conflict, immigration and migrant integration policy are areas in which Flemish and Francophone political elites tend to hold diametrically opposing views. From the 1990s onwards, this linguistic cleavage was apparent in all government negotiations and parliamentary debates on immigration and citizenship issues, which both fall under the jurisdiction of the central state.