The boundary between France and Belgium was
inadvertently redrawn by a farmer who found the 200-year-old border stone
marking the divide in an inconvenient location for his tractor.
The Belgian farmer could theoretically face criminal charges after making Belgium bigger by moving the stone that has marked the border since after the defeat of Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. The Franco-Belgian border, stretching 620km, was formally established under the Treaty of Kortrijk of 1820.
A
local amateur historian taking a walk in forest near to the Belgian village of
Erquelinnes discovered two weeks ago that the stone dating back to 1819 had
been moved 2.29 metres. The farmer’s perimeter fence had also been shifted.
While amused by the enlargement of his
town, David Lavaux, the mayor of Erquelinnes, gently pointed out that the
farmer was legally obliged to move the border stone back.
“It will be best not to create a diplomatic incident. We
have no interest in expanding the town, or the country. He made Belgium bigger and France smaller. It’s not a good idea. I was happy, my town was bigger.
But the mayor of Bousignies-sur-Roc didn’t agree.
“If the farmer shows goodwill, he won’t
have a problem, we will settle this issue amicably,” Lavaux added with a smile.
If the farmer fails to comply, the issue
could be referred to the Belgian foreign ministry, which might have to summon a
Franco-Belgian border commission, dormant since 1930, to settle the exact
delimitation of the border.
“We should be able to avoid a new border
war,” Aurélie Welonek, the mayor of Bousignies-sur-Roc, told La Voix du Nord.
Article from The Guardian (edited)
