FEBRUARY 23, 1998
Belgium is in
THE Belgian Grand Prix has been saved thanks to some neat political side-stepping by the government of Walloonia, the region of Belgium in which the Spa-Francorchamps racing circuit is situated.
Belgium, however, has a very strange system of government which has come about because the country is split between those who speak Flemish (Flemings) and those who speak French (Walloons). Political tension between the two groups led to the establishment of three regional governments: Walloonia, Flanders and Brussels. Each of these has its own powerful assembly and government. The national government retains power to make decisions in foreign policy, defence and budget while also controlling the judges and the legal system, but the regional governments make the rest of the laws.
The Walloonia Regional Government, headed by Minister-President Robert Collignon, has decided to introduce a law which allows all kinds of sponsorship for world-class events - sporting or cultural. If this law is passed by the regional parliament there will be no further problems for Spa.