The parliamentary committee that was set up to examine Belgium’s colonial past turns has ended with out reaching any conclusion. The special committee had been working for more than two years and had been examining how Belgium should best deal with the legacy of colonialism. There will be no apology given on the part of the Belgian state to the Democratic Republic of Congo that was a Belgian colony until 1960.
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Parliamentary committee on Belgium’s colonial past ends in failure, liberal parties do not participate in final vote
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Differences between the political parties represented on the parliamentary committee mean that it proved impossible to reach agreement on a final text containing any conclusions drawn from the past two years’ work. The Committee Chairman Wouter De Vriendt (Flemish green) says that "The purpose of the parliamentary committee was to create clarity and to learn lessons for the future. However, the differences between the parties were irreconcilable."
The failure to reach an agreement of any sort will be a disappointment for Mr De Vriendt, who after more than two years of work sees the commission he chaired end in failure. Last weekend, Mr De Vriendt tried in vain to find an agreement the various parties could sign up to. Article 69 of the draft text, which states that parliament should apologise for what happened in Congo when it was a Belgian colony, proved to be a stumbling block. This means that for the time being at least no apology of any kind will be forthcoming.
The Flemish and Francophone liberals in particular felt that Article 69 was too far reaching. The representatives of both parties left before the various proposals could be voted on. The liberals believe that an apology would open the door to demands for reparations to paid by Belgium.
The Flemish and Francophone liberals would rather limit any expression of remorse on the party of Belgium to King Filip’s expression of regret that he made during his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo in June. However, the Francophone socialists found this to be insufficient.