1939: Belgium

Political Situation.

At the beginning of 1939, Premier Paul-Henri Spaak completed a reconstruction of his Cabinet. Five of the ministers including Premier Spaak were Socialists, four were Catholics, and three were Liberals. Premier Spaak handed over the portfolio of Foreign Affairs to M. Janson, a Liberal and former Premier. Two days after this reconstructed Cabinet had received a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies by 123 to 20. Premier Spaak was assaulted by a crowd of war veterans, who demanded his resignation owing to the action of the government in appointing Dr. Adrian Maertens to the newly-formed Royal Flemish Academy. Dr. Maertens, a Flemish nationalist, had been a member of the Council of Flanders, which had cooperated with the Germans during the World War. For his action at that time he had been condemned to death as a traitor, but in 1937 was pardoned under an amnesty.

Premier Spaak made the appointment of Dr. Maertens a question of confidence in the Chamber and secured a favorable vote of 88 to 82 with 7 abstentions. But at a meeting of the leaders of the Liberal party with the three Liberal Ministers, it was decided that the latter would leave the Cabinet if Dr. Maertens remained in the Flemish Academy. Consequently Premier Spaak resigned on Feb. 9. Flemish party leaders then issued a manifesto claiming the right to cultural autonomy and declaring that they would not join any Cabinet whose program failed to include this measure.

M. Pierlot, a former Minister of Agriculture and of the Interior and a member of the Catholic party, formed a Cabinet Feb. 21 which included three Socialists. The Minister of Education, M. Blanquaert, was a professor at a Flemish University and favored Flemish cultural autonomy. In his message to the Chamber of Deputies, Premier Pierlot pointed out that the Flemish movement had revealed a strength of expansion which would have imperiled the existence of the state if it had remained compressed within the old limits. Important reforms had, therefore, been made in order to place on an equal footing the two Belgian cultural communities. Much, however, still remained to be done.

When the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance announced a reduction of 5 per cent in nearly all state expenditures, as a contribution towards covering the ordinary budget deficit, the Socialist party protested, accusing the Finance Minister of following a deflationary policy. The Cabinet resigned on Feb. 27, owing to the opposition of the Socialists. King Leopold asked M. Soudan, a Socialist Senator, to form a government. He failed chiefly because the Liberals refused to cooperate as long as Dr. Maertens remained a member of the Flemish Academy. The King again sent for M. Pierlot, who stated that he could not count on the support of all the Catholics for a Catholic-Socialist coalition. Thereupon the King signed a decree dissolving Parliament and fixing elections for April 2. The gravity of the situation was emphasized by the King in a letter to M. Pierlot in which he wrote: 'The constitutional principles which hitherto had guaranteed the strength of our institutions are being increasingly disregarded. . . . The separation of powers (Executive, Judiciary, and Legislative) is no longer respected. Bodies without mandate are intervening in the formation and dislocation of governments.' See also WORLD ECONOMICS.

The entry of German troops into Prague caused a lessening of political friction in Belgium. Flemish newspapers published warnings of the dangers to the country inherent in the policies of autonomy for the Flemings and Walloons; pointing out that 'a house divided against itself cannot stand.' Flemings were urged to ponder over the lesson of Czechoslovakia. Socialist, Catholic, and Liberal papers also advised moderation and appealed to the nation for unity.

Elections.

In the elections the Catholics made gains in all parts of the country; the Liberals made progress in the towns; the Socialists lost votes everywhere except in Antwerp; and the Rexists, the Fascist party of Leon Degrelle, was swept almost out of existence, polling only one-third of the votes which they had obtained in 1936. Dr. Maertens announced his resignation from the Flemish Academy when the polling was closed and before the results were known. In the new Chamber of Deputies the Catholics had 73 seats, Socialists 64, Liberals 33, Flemish Nationalists 17, Communists 9, and the Rexists 4. In the cantons of Eupen, St. Vith, and Malmedy, which had belonged to Germany before the World War, pro-Belgian candidates obtained 54.71 per cent of the votes cast and the Heimattreue Front, the pro-German group, did not secure any seats.

After the elections, King Leopold asked M. Pierlot to form a Ministry of National Union on non-party lines. This was impossible, as the Socialist Party Congress, in spite of the protests of former Premier Spaak, rejected participation in the Government on the ground that the party's proper place was with the opposition in view of its failure in the elections. Finally, M. Pierlot formed a Cabinet of Catholics and Liberals on April 18. Premier Pierlot acted as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Government's policy, the Prime Minister said, had a triple aim of safeguarding the country's independence by union of all Belgians which would be accomplished by reconciling the Flemings and Walloons, reforming the Constitution by a stricter application of the essential rules, and improving the economic and financial situation. The Chamber granted the Government special powers in matters of defense. Only the Flemish Nationalists voted against this. Special financial powers to accomplish economic and budgetary reform were voted to the Government. The only adverse votes were by the Socialists, Communists, and Flemish Nationalists. At the end of June, Premier Pierlot's Cabinet was voted down on a question in the budget, relating to transportation, but, contrary to precedent, the Cabinet did not resign. In view of the international situation, it was considered wiser that the Cabinet should remain and present the budget anew, with some alterations. After hostilities had begun in Europe, the Cabinet was reorganized. Former Premier Spaak became Minister of Foreign Affairs and four other Socialists became Ministers.

Domestic Affairs.

The outstanding event in Belgium in 1939 was the completion of the Albert Canal, celebrated by Belgians when King Leopold III unveiled a statue to his father, the late King Albert, at the head of the Liege-to-Antwerp canal. The canal is the greatest civilian undertaking ever carried out in Belgium. Started by King Albert in 1930 it is the greatest monument which he left. Not only of great commercial importance, enabling Antwerp to compete more effectively with Rotterdam for the heavy traffic of the upper Meuse basin, it has also military significance. Along the front of 70 miles the canal protects all the large towns and important industrial centers against an invasion through the Netherlands. By a system of defensive flooding, the waters of the canal could make hundreds of square miles impassable in a few hours.

King Leopold, on behalf of the seven states in the Oslo group, meeting in Brussels, issued an appeal for peace on Aug. 23, urging the submission of national differences to conciliation. On Aug. 29, King Leopold and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands issued a joint offer of mediation. They renewed this offer of good offices to the belligerents in November. (See THE NETHERLANDS.)

Full mobilization was ordered on Aug. 28, and King Leopold assumed command of the army. The Chamber of Deputies approved by a large majority a bill conferring on King Leopold, for the duration of mobilization, extensive powers which were practically dictatorial in scope.

Recurrent crises in Europe had caused a great decline in Belgian trade. The situation was aggravated further by the blockade of Germany by Great Britain. Unemployment was higher than it had been at any time for three years. It was estimated that the public debt increased by 1,175,000,000 francs over 1938. Finance Minister Camille Gutt said in April that Belgium was spending at a rate which created an annual deficit of 650,000,000 francs. Military measures taken to maintain Belgium's neutrality, after war began in Europe, increased expenditures still more. Great Britain's decision to seize all exports of German origin or ownership caused Belgium to protest and reserve all her rights under international law.

The last of the great Belgian war figures, Burgomaster Adolphe Max of Brussels, who won fame for his defiance of the Germany Army chiefs in 1914 during their occupation of the city, died in 1939. A pillar of the Liberal party, Max had been Burgomaster of Belgium's capital since 1909. See also RELIGION: Jews.