General strike only harms Belgium

A day-long strike against the Belgium government's austerity programme has brought public life to a standstill. It began on Sunday evening and is to last all day Monday. But if the unions want to overcome the debt crisis and the recession they are going about it the wrong way, writes the liberal daily De Standaard: "The path to a better future is extremely narrow. It has less to do with ideology than with realism. But for it to lead anywhere at all mutual trust must be restored, and today's strike is not helping here at all. ... Above all tomorrow is important. Consumers and entrepreneurs are afraid. They must regain the belief that the crisis can be overcome. But another kind of trust is also lacking: the belief that when we are finally more prosperous again, the wealth will be more evenly distributed. ... We need nothing short of a new social pact. Strikes like today's, which only exacerbate the differences, merely divert attention from the key issue. Only when we make painful decisions together and the burden is shared evenly will our condition improve."

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