Can a comedian's beer-and-barbecue joke tell us more about Belgium's green record than a policy paper?
In a satirical column for HLN, veteran Flemish comedian Geert Hoste skewers the debate over 'more green in Belgium' by imagining the government's inner Xavier Waterslaeghers — the F.C.
In 30 seconds
- Geert Hoste, a veteran Flemish comedian, published a satirical column in HLN on the debate over 'more green in Belgium'.
- The column jokes that the government's inner Xavier Waterslaeghers swears by the 'BBZ method': Bier, Barbecue en Zwembad (beer, barbecue, swimming pool).
- Xavier Waterslaeghers is a character from the popular Flemish sitcom F.C. De Kampioenen.
- In Belgium, most environmental and climate competence lies with the regions (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels), with federal coordination for EU commitments.
Geert Hoste is a veteran Flemish comedian and satirist, long associated with the year-end 'eindejaarsconference' broadcast tradition. In this column for Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) he satirises the political debate over 'more green in Belgium' by imagining the government channelling Xavier Waterslaeghers — the good-natured, effort-averse everyman from the popular Flemish sitcom F.C. De Kampioenen — who prefers the invented 'BBZ method': Bier, Barbecue en Zwembad (beer, barbecue and swimming pool). The 'method' is a comic device, not a real policy, used to mock perceived complacency on climate and environmental ambition.
Background
Flemish political satire has a long pedigree as a public pressure valve, with Geert Hoste's televised year-end conferences functioning for years as a quasi-national review of the powerful. F.C. De Kampioenen, one of the most-watched Flemish sitcoms, has made characters like Xavier Waterslaeghers instantly legible shorthand for a certain cheerful, change-resistant everyman — which is why invoking him carries immediate meaning for a Belgian audience.
What to do
None operational for readers; the piece is best used as a read on Belgian public mood toward climate politics rather than as guidance on any policy or service.
The Belgian angle
The column is a Flemish cultural artefact aimed at a Flemish readership, and it leans on F.C. De Kampioenen, a touchstone of Flemish popular culture. Its bite depends on the reality that most environmental competence in Belgium sits with the regions — Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels-Capital — making regional governments, as much as the federal one, the implicit targets of the satire.
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- 8 Aug 2026
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