Diplomatic World_nummer 56.

Prof. dr. em. Herman De Croo
like for instance in Paris between Gare du Nord and Gare
de l’Est. Brussels has three train stations: Gare Centrale
(the biggest one), Gare du Nord et Gare du Midi. Midi is
the only place where there is a junction between them.
I decided to build metro stations inside the railway
stations to avoid huge traffic jams in the city. If we did
not build the metro stations, in 10 years no one would
be able to reach Brussels anymore. Putting the metro
stations in dry environments near the stations would
encourage people to take the train without disrupting the
local traveling inside the city. It seems simple and it is
the most logical option but still there was a revolt by the
19 mayors of the communes of Brussels.
Their reason for protesting was that these measures were
advantageous to commuters, who are of no use to the
communes. Commuters are not citizens who vote and
pay taxes. The mayors would much rather we invest in
roads and car travel, for their voters are the people who
use cars in the city. Those eight years were a permanent
fight but we did create a period of calm through the
metro and railway stations. Unfortunately, we started
investing in constructing car infrastructure and now
10 years later Brussels is completely blocked by cars,
as I predicted.
POLITICALLY INTERWOVEN
Recently, I was in Congo for 14 days, where I tried to
explain the following issue: for 541 days Belgium had no
full-fledged government. Which other country — in the
turmoil of the Libyan War and with all the problems we all
have — other than Belgium, could survive almost two years
without a new government and avoid major problems,
revolts, and press scandals? I could not name you another
one.
When you look at the 28 European states today, there
are very few who can look back at their governments and
see that they were stable for over 5 years, with only small
tensions interrupting. In my opinion, Belgium passes this
test thanks to an interwovenness that is incomprehensible
to outsiders. For a long time I was mayor and speaker
of the Federal Chamber of Representatives and during
that time the first government was formed by a Socialist-
Liberal coalition and the next one by a Liberal-Christian
Democratic coalition. In my communal council the
opposition was Christian Democratic and my coalition
partner was Socialist, while in the province the three
parties together had formed a coalition. Nationally
versus regionally, everything was different even though
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