notes with timestamps:
0:01 This is Tom Van Grieken, leader of Vlaams Belang.
Vlaams Belang want Flanders to become an independent country.
Flanders is the Dutch ("Flemish") speaking part of Belgium. Wallonia is the French speaking part.
"Flemings" = people from Flanders. Depending on the context it can also mean "Dutch speakers in Belgium".
"Flemish" is a general term covering anything to do with Flanders. It usually does not mean "the Flemish language" (Dutch).
0:16 26th May: 26th May 2019 when Vlamms Belang made huge gains in the Belgian federal election.
0:20 "more right": right as in "right on the political spectrum". Van Grieken literally says "right-er".
I know "more right" sounds awkward but I don't think you can use "more right-wing" here because "right" and "right-wing" have a different tone.
"Right-wing" in itself sounds extreme and pejorative. I don't think a politician like Van Grieken would self-identify as "right-wing" in English, he would probably use "right" or centre-right".
Dutch doesn't really use the term "right-wing", it just uses "left" and "right" which are more neutral terms.
0:21 Flemish: the adjective of Flanders. Van Grieken is not talking about the "Flemish language" here, he means more government ministers from Flanders.
0:25 what government are they forming:
there are basically four blocks in the Belgian parliament
green block = green parties (the Flemish green party and the Walloon green party)
red block = centre-left social democrats ("socialists", the PS, which is the social democratic party in Wallonia, is particularly powerful)
blue block = centre-right liberal parties
yellow / orange block = three centre-right Flemish conservative parties
the green, red and blue blocks are "united", by that I mean they are made up of sister parties: a party in Wallonia and the equivalent party in Flanders.
the yellow / orange block is different, it is made up of three distinct parties with different ideologies
CD&V are the most moderate. They want more autonomy for Flanders but not full independence. Generally, CD&V can reach coalition agreements with the green, red and blue blocks without enormous difficulty.
N-VA are further to the right than CD&V. They want independence, but not immediately. They are fiscally conservative.
Although not "taboo" like Vlaams Belng, in practice it is difficult for N-VA to reach agreements with the green, red and blue blocks.
Vlaams Belang are the furthest to the right. They want independence, are eurosceptic and want immigartion reform. They have a "cordon sanitaire" placed around them - no other parties will work with them.
here are the seat numbers from the last election (150 seats in total, 76 needed for majority)
green block: 21
red block: 29
blue block: 26
CD&V: 12
N-VA: 25
Vlaams Belang: 18
blue-red coalitions are called "purple"
the most likely government at the moment is "purple-green plus CD&V" (also referred to as "Vivaldi" due to the party names) so green, red, blue and CD&V
you can see how the N-VA and Vlaams Belang are both likely to be left out despite being the two largest parties in Flanders
this Vivaldi government would have 41 of the 87 Flemish seats
further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Belgian_federal_election
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regeringsformaties_Belgi%C3%AB_2019-2020
0:27 "most left": left as in politically left. As with "right" above at 0:20 I don' think you can use "left-wing" here.
0:30 as with 0:21 above "Flemish" here is not a reference to the Flemish language but to Flanders in general
0:34 see 0:25 above for explanation of what these terms mean
0:47 Almaci and Calvo: two Green politicians. Van Grieken uses the respectful form "Mevrouw (Madam)" Almaci, I left this out to save space.
1:03 PS: the centre-left Walloon "Parti Socialiste"
1:07 Wallonia decides...: in case this is unclear, he is saying Wallonia decides government policy, and Flanders finances it.
source videos:
https://www.facebook.com/tomvangrieken/videos/359689928386688/
(date = 05.09.20)
https://www.facebook.com/vlbelang/videos/337434250801220/
(date = 15.09.20)
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