 Good morning. I'm Jay Fidel. This is Global Connections today. We have a wonderful day in store for us. And first up is a VIP from Belgium, from Brussels, I assume, Henri van Tegen, who is a Consul General in LA for the Kingdom of Brussels. Belgium. Belgium. I'm sorry, Kingdom of Belgium. And welcome to the show, Henri. Thank you. Thank you very much for inviting me. I am very honored to address to the Hawaiian Hodeans and I hope that it will generate some sympathy among the people for Belgium. Belgium is the country. Brussels is the city. Yes, thank you. It's a capital city. And Brussels is very famous, actually more famous than Belgium because it's the seat of international organization like NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is the large alliance between European countries, Canada and United States of America. And also the seat of the European institutions. So we can say that it's the capital of the European Union. And it was a commercial capital for a long time, don't you think? Yes, yes, yes. Actually, from the Middle Age, Belgium was a crossing point for different civilization. And we have a city called Bruges, 65 miles from Brussels, northward from Brussels. And this city was in the 10th, 11th, 12th century, a huge economic crossing point. And we can say that if we have to compare that with the situation of today, Bruges in the 10th, 11th century was the New York Stock Exchange of the world. Now it's an absolutely beautiful town. It's so beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe. So I shouldn't say city, it's really a town. If you ever get a chance to go to Bruges or Bruga in Flemish, you must go. Speaking of which, Flemish is your second language. What is that? Well, actually in my situation, it is my first native language. And then I studied in French. I am bilingual for Flemish language that is spoken by 60% of the population in Belgium. 60%. 60%. Northward of Belgium. It's a northern part called Flanders. Also a very famous historic name, Flanders Fields. The poem in First World War, Flanders Field is actually in Belgium. And the southern part of Belgium with the Ardennes and a city that is also very well known in the United States, Bastogne. There the people speak French. Very interesting place. I've been there and I certainly enjoyed it and I felt that history all around me. Unfortunately in the 20th century, Belgium was kind of a target in both world wars and took a lot of damage and fatality. Can you talk about that a little? Yes, of course. Actually, when we became an independent state in 1830, well the name of Belgium exists since Julius Caesar. He mentioned the Belgian tribes at this time, at the time of Christ actually in history. But we have not an independent country up to 1830. And in 1830 all the European powers, France, Germany, Austria and of course the British Empire, they decided to accept a new country called Belgium. At the condition it would remain neutral. It would not join the Nile Islands and it would be independent from all the different countries without influence of these countries inside. It gave us a large freedom, especially an economic freedom because we could develop our economy without influence of Germany or France and we were extremely successful at that time in the first years of capitalism, the industrialist revolution. Belgium was actually the second country to follow the British Empire and England at that time. It makes you progressive, doesn't it? Absolutely, absolutely. But then this neutrality was indeed respected by our neighbors up to 1914. And in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War, the Germans wanted to attack France. And the best way to attack France is pass through a flat country, a flat country where you can dispose of your army wherever you want and without that much resistance because Belgium is still a small country. We had a great army, fantastic private soldiers, but still facing the German army it was very difficult to resist. We had to withdraw and the battlefields was on our territory because the French on the other side they entered into Belgium and they faced the German army. They had also to withdraw up to the battle of the Marne River in September 1914. Oh yes, wasn't that where the French came in taxi cabs? Correct, from Paris, absolutely. Absolutely, they had reinforcement from the Paris garrison that was sent to the front line on the Marne River by the taxis. It didn't work. Well yes, because the Germans were stopped. The Germans were stopped. And that's why actually in the Second World War as well we had battlefields in Belgium because we are a very, very usable country, usable battlefield between France and Germany and that's a bit the way that we could solve the problem is to create the European community at the first time and know the European Union so that today a war between France, Germany or England even with Brexit is unthinkable. Mutual defence. Yes, we are all together and we have a single economy, a single free trade area you can export to the different countries without any obstacles. There is total freedom of moving for the people. They can move from Belgium to Italy or from no borders inside the territory of the European Union. Very important to Belgium. Absolutely. In Belgium it's actually a beneficiary, at least as much as it is a contributor in terms of mutual defence. True, true, true. And then we have near this great family of European countries. We have NATO that binds us with the United States and Canada and that is very important also for our security because the European Union is not at the primary defence organisation but it's an organisation that wants to promote peace and collaboration and exchange of IDs in between the member states and of course it pays us true, it passes through economy. And Brussels is the capital of the EU, isn't it? Yes, because the institutions are seated in Brussels. That's why when president of the United States applied to Europe, its first stop is always Brussels. Not because of Belgium but because of the international institutions that are setting up in Belgium. All the management, all the staff, it's all in Brussels. Yes, it's all in Brussels. You get to, as a consul general, do you get to engage with the EU and NATO at all? NATO a bit less because this is really the business of the embassy but as the European Union is an economic organisation, we have in all the place where we have consul general gathering of the EU consul general of EU ambassadors when it's for small country only an embassy. Every month we have a kind of coordination to exchange view, to exchange numbers of economy and to see how we can improve the relations with the host country. You know all of Europe has a problem with migrants these days and it's a sort of two phase problem. One is they come in for one reason, one rule or another and they settle in various places for various reasons. And the second problem is that maybe they don't fit so well in some countries and then you have a right wing kind of reaction to that. We know from many shows that that has happened in a number of countries in Europe happening in Brussels in Belgium. Well yes, like everywhere else like in Germany, like in France, like in Italy these last days and also like in Greece because Greece is on the borderline with the migrants. But we have to make a difference between refugees and economic migrants. The refugees of course have a right to be protected and it is internationally agreed by treaties that we have to protect civilians fleeing their countries because of war, civil war or international war. So this is something that we are facing now with the civil war in Syria, instability in Iraq and Middle East is actually our backyard because when you have the Mediterranean Sea we have a backyard that is the Middle East. It's very close from Europe and you have in between a kind of buffer state that is Turkey and Turkey is very important in accepting and the first place refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan. It's all connected. It's all connected. But then you cross the border between Turkey and Bulgaria or Greece and then you are indeed in the European Union. Or you cross the Mediterranean from Libya by boat and then you are in the European Union. These my economic migrants, the second class of migrants, I would say there are procedures to integrate them and to facilitate them in the labor market. But actually they have no per se, they have no right to enter in the European Union. We try to find jobs for them. Refugees are a bit different than economic migrants. The refugees we are bound to accept them to protect them. The economic migrants, well they are processed but if they are showing up at your border you have to find a solution for them and of course sometimes they are repatriate in their own country, their home country because well they don't fulfill the conditions to be accepted. Yeah and this has been happening for a while. I mean you know we learned about it only a few years ago with all the great numbers of migrants but in fact there's been settlement all over Europe including the UK by various Muslim groups and African groups you know that were seeking a better life and they're there. They're part of the firmament now. So recently you had a, I hate to ask about this because I know it must be painful, you had a terror attack in Brussels airport two years ago. You know what was the fall out of that? What was the reaction of the Belgian people about that? Well the first reaction of the Belgian people was to share sorrow and to mourn the victims and the families of the victims. Actually there was no violent reaction toward one or another community. There was just a very sad reaction but our view against terrorism is also passing through a response via police and justice corporations among the European countries. Among the all the different European countries we have to share information between the police service, between justice, the judiciary, must be in contact and we have to fight the terrorist by legal issues, in a legal point of view. Which is what you did in the case of the Brussels attack. Correct, correct, correct. Actually they were all arrested, of course those who blow up, they were killed in the terrorist attack but all the networks were arrested and we catch them up or in France or in Germany because they are networked, they have networks and through this police and justice cooperation we can crack down their networks and the attack happened in May 2016, actually since May 2016 we do not have any more incidents. Exactly, yeah. Yeah and then in France the same and in Germany the same. I think that we reinforce a lot through the mechanism of the European Union. We reinforce the police and justice cooperation in order to have the best share of information before it happens. Yeah, oh so much better, Interpol. Yeah, so one of the things I look at the. Well actually Interpol is international, worldwide, we have no Europol and Eurojust. Ah, sorry, yes, okay, okay, that's better yet. Because it's a limited number of nations. Absolutely. Comparing notes on a closer basis. Exactly, yeah. I looked at the newspaper this morning and saw that there was a parade in a secondary city in Belgium involving a float that was arguably, well more than arguably, it was anti-Semitic. But you pointed out to me before the show that this was not a surprise because that parade in that city has a custom. Can you talk about it? Well it's the Carnival. Carnival is a festival that is happening in different cities in Belgium. Most of the time it's only a festival that is for the people but here there is a parade and this parade is mocking almost everything. The one in a year on that day, it's called also in Germany the full day or the full Tuesday. It's in Belgium is Carnival and in this city they mock everything. They mock the government, they mock the police, they mock the migrants, they mock also some communities and unfortunately because it was very bad taste and of course it was considered as offensive for a community but I'm sure that it was not meant to be anti-Semitic. It was just meant to have a kind of mockery of different traditions. For all communities it is bad taste and I think it will change because this year it was indeed broadcast worldwide this parade and we had a lot of reactions and I think next year it will be more cool and less offensive. That's Henri van Tegen. Did I say that right? Yeah, yeah, perfect. He's the Council General of the Kingdom of Belgium in Los Angeles and we come back, we'll take a look at the connection between Los Angeles and Hawaii in terms of the Belgian Council General and we'll look at how Belgium feels about things in the United States. We'll be right back. 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We're honored to have the Council General of the Kingdom of Belgium that is Henri van Tegen here with us in the studio this morning on a given Wednesday. Henri, a kingdom. You know, that little surprised me. It's a kingdom? Who's the king? How does that work? Well, when we got our independence gained by a revolution against the Dutch, we created a state and all the powers, the European powers at that time, the world powers, British Empire, France, Germany, they accepted the Belgian independence. Out of one condition, it would be a kingdom. And we said, we were really searching for a candidate and the best candidate was Leopold of Saxe-Coburgotta. And then he was elected by Congress as king of the Belgians. It's not king of Belgium. He's not the landlord of the country. He's the first citizen of the Belgian community. He's king of the Belgians. Of course, you have a legislature as well, a parliament. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's comparable to the British system. Oh, speaking of which, Brexit. Can I get your thoughts on Brexit? You don't have to give me the official position, but let me know what you think. Well, I think that we feel that is a very sad issue, the Brexit, because the European Union was stronger with the Brits inside. No, the population in the United Kingdom has decided to leave the European Union. And we are negotiating with them the terms and condition to live for living this European Union. Unfortunately, it seems that on the side of the British government, there is still some uncertainty on the conditions. We on the European side, we are very clear and we have put on the table a proposal that has been rejected two times by the British Parliament. But it's supported by the British government. Theresa May has proposed this treaty with the European Union of association. They won't be a full member, but they would be associated. And unfortunately, the British House of Commons has rejected the proposal two times, and we hope that there will be maybe some more education about the treaty so that the people would accept it and make some pressure on the parliament to agree with the treaty. If they leave without treaty with the European Union, it will be something terrible, terrible, because then it will be a situation of hard Brexit. With the treaty, it would be a soft Brexit. Without treaty, it would be hard Brexit. And then we will be in the situation that all the ties that are existing with the UK and the continent would be cut. That would be tragic. Absolutely, tragedy indeed. It seems that in England, that's what the press reports, that there are so many different tendencies and so many different trends in the parliament, even in the political parties, Labour Party, Conservative parties, that is very difficult for them to make a common position towards the EU proposal. But at the same time, what is a good news is that the European Union remains very close from each other, and we have a common position for the 27 member states remaining in the European Union. So it was said when there was a referendum that the European Union might collapse and there might be other countries willing to leave. It is not the case. Those who are remaining want to work together and want to go forward and maybe to progress together. Oh, good, good. For my sake, I would prefer there be no Brexit at all. Wouldn't you? Well, a referendum is a referendum, you know. When the people decide something, you cannot go against the decision of the people. Although this time it was a very small majority. It was 52% or something like that for an issue that is so important than being a member of the European political family because it is an intergovernmental organisation where every government has its word to say. And then we come to a consensus and we can have a European rule, a European legislation, which is very important. But then you ask the people, even with 2% of majority, the people have decided it's a pity. I think there was a very difficult issue to explain to the people because the European Union is still very technocratic. There are a lot of positive things that are coming from the European Union. But it is very difficult to explain in simple terms to a people what are the advantages to be a member of the European Union. On the contrary, it's very easy to ask the people and at the end of the day it was almost the question that the Brits had to face. Do you feel more British or do you feel more European? And of course they feel very British. But the purpose of the European Union is not to create a new nation. Every single country will remain its own political organisation. There is France, there is Germany, there is Italy. They will remain independent countries. The European Union is not trying to merge everything in a new nation. The great Europeans were great Europeans because they were very deeply French, Germans, Belgian, Dutch or Italians. We do not want to erase the nationalities. The purpose is to, I would say to harmonise the policies to have a common view on certain issues. A common view is very important because on certain issues we are stronger together. The point of view of France or of Germany is very important. But when is a European common view that is agreed not only by France for its own or Germany for its own but by all European countries from the Atlantic, from Portugal to the Baltic Sea to Finland, all together we have a common position then we have a lot of weight on the world's affairs. You know it's funny that this Brexit thing, I mean I don't think it was intended this way, but the Brexit thing makes the EU stronger in a funny way. In the cohesion between the remaining countries indeed. How about the economics though? Does it make it stronger in terms of the economics? How is Europe, the EU, how is Belgium doing on the economic side? Well for the time being there is a growth in Belgium and all the indicators are in green. So we have a very flourishing economy. There are some other countries in the European Union that are in more difficult situation but when it comes to the European Union we can help each other. This is a question also of solidarity and the great achievement of the European Union is this solidarity among the European countries. As we told before there was two world wars started in Europe. No it's impossible to imagine that there would be a war among these countries first of all and we have we share so much solidarity and we have the same economy because it's becoming the European economy. For instance for foreign trade all the different member states of the European Union have transferred their sovereignty to negotiate trade agreements with third parties, third country, to the Commission. So for the European countries there is no possibility to agree on a free trade area with India or with China without passing through the European Union. So it's very good. So there is the European Union represents all the member states for foreign trade issues and we can negotiate free trade agreement with giants like United States, like Canada, like China on equality and we can put what we expect from free trade. It means growth and welfare for the people on the table as well as the economic point of view and aspect of the treaty. Does that include gas? Does it include LNG? We had a show last week about gas coming from Russia in a new pipeline that bypasses Ukraine. It comes directly to Germany and that you know countries charge each other for the passage of gas. Correct. How does that fit? Well this is not foreign trade this is energy policy and for the energy policy there is no commonsense position from the European Union. So for this policy Germany is suffering to have its supplier for energy. There is no common policy in energy. We try to shape it and step by step we are in a good way to have this common policy, one more common policy, but it's indeed a part of free trade agreements. Energy policy can be included in free trade agreements with third countries and so it's indeed something that we can put forward and where we have to make some progress indeed. But again the problem is that you know it would be very easy to unify Europe with Napoleon but it is not the purpose. The purpose is to have all the people and all the government and all the state treated equally and then having a coordination on their policy if possible an integration of their policy. You know it's wonderful to hear you say that. We live in a time when they're sort of you have not only democracy in individual countries growing democracy in individual countries you have a kind of democracy among the countries where they collaborate, cooperate, talk to each other. This is a phenomenal thing in our lifetimes Henri. But I wonder as time goes by what's the trend you think if we look again in a hundred years we should only be here in a hundred years. If you think if you look again in a hundred years you think that that Europe the EU will be closer as a unified political entity is it possible? I think so. You know even in the education of a child you have phases when it goes back and then it goes forward and then it goes back. It's some kind of process that takes time and we started with the European Union 75 years ago and 70 years ago we were at war with each other. So that's again we expect to have everything immediately but politics takes time and I think that within 100 years we will face a totally different world first of all and then the European people and I hope so that the British they might they might change their mind about membership of the European Union and come back it will take time always but it will be the case I hope that we have a more coherent and a more solidarity bit among the nations and inside the European Union. Here, here. Thank you. So I promised that we would talk about Belgium's relationship with Hawaii and tell you that Shamanad University St. Louis was created by by an order of of briars and brothers from Belgium that father Damien in Kalapapa with the leprosy community there he was Belgium Belgium and we have a certain history most of the 19th century with Belgium right now today there are cultural elements in this community that are clearly Belgian so your jurisdiction includes Los Angeles I guess the west coast and also Hawaii what do you see the relationship as today between Belgium and Hawaii? Well first of all the relation started very early after the creation of the Kingdom of Belgium we started in 1830 and in 1842 we had already diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Hawaii years later yeah yeah yeah we had relations with the Kingdom of Hawaii and from them we have a representative in Hawaii for the Kingdom of Belgium and honorary council these days is Mr. Jeff Law Honorable Jeff Law is representing Belgium here and we are extremely positive toward Hawaii first of all the reputation of these islands is the paradise so everybody loves even the name of Hawaii and then economically we have some important exchanges but also culturally and I think that in the education field we had some missionaries coming from Belgium and establishing some institution in Hawaii and secondly we had also a father Damien who become a saint 10 years ago yes 10 years ago he's a saint so he is worshipped in in Hawaii but also in Belgium is a very famous figure for the Belgians and he helped in Molokai all the leprosy hillan people and nobody wanted to go to Molokai and he said okay I will go for a few years he was a saint he remained he remained 16 years helping the people there and he is still very famous we have every year in Belgium Father Damien Week was that right yes for collection of money funding for the help for the leprosy and handicapped people it's a direct connection with Hawaii yeah well I offered that there's a strain in the Belgian culture that is giving and charitable alamosanary otherwise these people would not have come here to build true educational and health institutions the way they did yeah absolutely and by the way in 1881 I think King Kallahua from Hawaii he traveled to Europe and he spent one week in Brussels and he was received by our king at that time Leopold II with parties and a lot of fun and he received the highest decoration of the Belgian kingdom and I think that my king received the highest decoration of the Hawaiian kingdom this was mutual exchanges and we are trying to find out for some pieces that are no in display at Royal Palace if they are coming from Belgium or not probably they are coming from Belgium my feeling is that they are Belgians some decoration objects well thank you Henry thank you for coming down I hope you come down again I hope you come again when you come to Hawaii and I want to thank Jeff Lau for setting this interview up this has been great important to us for sure thank you Henry aloha hello mahalo thank you thank you so much