1. Brussels becomes part of Flanders ? I would hardly accept this idea - even if I speak Flemish, my mother tongue is French. Language Diversity (a concept I care a lot) might be at risk. On the other hand, if Brussels becomes part of Flanders, and if the UN, EU institutions make their job, Flanders might be coerced to become a bilingual entity (Brussels or the poison pill:-). This might be funny to try (but the joke might be for a short while).

2. Brussels becomes the first European state directly ruled by the European Commission? I would hardly accept this idea (being governed by a Greek, or a Swedish, or any other European citizen except a native). On the other hand, not so far ago (175 years ago), we were used to be ruled by Dutch, French, Austrian, Spanish,… during centuries). It would be a pretty big administration for such a small city though

3. Brussels becomes part of Wallonia ? Walloons speak French, we share common media (TV and newspapers). But do I want Brussels to be managed like Charleroi ? Sorry this was easy, but well, the most populated city of Wallonia is not really an example of transparency.

4. “Wallonia-Brussels” becomes part of France ? French speaks French, we share common media (TV and newspapers). But do I want a Sarkozy-Bruni duet as a royal example ? Ok, frankly, I don’t care, but Language Diversity (a concept I care a lot about) might be at risk in this case (I love speaking other languages).

5. Wallonia becomes part of Luxembourg (or maybe Wallonia takes over Luxemburg) ? In Luxembourg, 3 national languages. They are friendly, a bit rough, but friendly, they know how to manage business, and make money… mmmh why not, I’d like to explore this idea. A future country with 4 national languages, good governance, still some royal family… from a cultural point of view, it might be very powerful…

6. Wallonia, like Brussels becomes part of a “European federation entity”, under commandment of the EC. This might get very funny, but could open huge opportunities (an open-air laboratory on how to boost a whole region, a “EU flagship”, where ideas will be directly put into practice). On the other hand, the country is paralyzed by a very complex decision apparel, economy is not flourishing, entrepreneurship is still considered as a strange concept. Tough challenge,… would be these 16 844 km² be ready to become a Multicultural chaos ?

7. The Netherlands become part of Flanders (I know this is a bit cynic) ? Dutch speak a very close language to Flemish. But do you seriously believe Flemish would like to be called “Dutch” (I mean Hollanders being called Flemish?) ? There is after all a deep cultural gap (Flemish are mainly catholics, and Dutch protestants), and anyway The Netherlands will not accept to be called “Flanders”. This could constitute though one of the most powerful economic bloc… since Flanders would leave out Wallonia because of the money…

In the case some hurdles happen (at the “linguistic border”), if things get serious, I sell everything (I have nothing) and will live somewhere else, abroad (making money and surviving is hard enough) - maybe I’ll be entitled to get a US / Australian nationality ? Cool perspective (but please, not Arkansas)… Little Belgium between little Armenia and Little Italy…

Pretty much simplified, the ring is composed as follows :
- On one side ; Flemish - around 6 millions inhabitants, occupying the North of the country, now economically strong, aging & stable population. Their closest language is Dutch, a different culture (Protestants), Flemish (Roman Catholics) don’t feel familiar with.
- On the other one ; French speakers - around 4 millions, occupying the South, pretty high unemployment level (20%) now, young (but not well educated) population, which could have been a bargain for factories on a cheaper side of the world.

The problem :
A strong minority of Flemish is fed up with contributing to the National (Belgian) Social welfare. They’d like therefore to stop paying for “lazy” unemployed people in the South of the country. They’d like therefore to contribute less to the National Belgian “Project”, and moving from a federal system (Belgium is indeed a Federation), to a Confederal one (like Switzerland).

Ok then, if this is just a question of money, why hasn’t it already been settled for a long time ?

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a huge magnet for Multinational companies, creating wealth, attracting skilled workers from all Europe (and a lot from Flanders as well). It is a French speaking city, regionally independent, surrounded (like Lesotho with South Africa) by Flemish territory. As a reminder, the majority of the country is Flemish speaking, which makes it pretty odd.
If effective territorial separation shall be, the deal for the Flemish would be clearly less attractive without this city. Taxes would be paid where money has been created, and the economical imbalances might be more “subtle”… please refer to the map hereunder.

Dear Reader, this Belgian situation is not “new”.
For more than 100 years, this topic has been on the table. It is part of our Belgian history, day-to-day topics.
Would it be then a cultural problem, the economical discrepancies being just an excuse ?
Yes, it could be, up to a certain point, without any demonstrations on the street, no violence, no “cultural” crimes like we would see in other parts of the world, of Western Europe. Flemish are affluent, people eat here, justice is kind’ of working. Common people have something to lose, and it’s good like that.

This recalls me about this truth : the smaller the cultures who realize the globalization feature of our world, the more vehement they will become to keep their identity.
The more conflicting and less open to cultural differences the context is, the strongest will the injured party retaliate. In our Belgian case, this rule applies, but a real buffer exists : the majority of the population living on the region’s border, is able to speak the other’s language, even if they don’t especially want to… a sign of mutual respect you couldn’t find easily elsewhere.

The surrounding International press is currently blaming us cause this opens their own local and regional Pandora’s “stay on the side” boxes. The UK and Spain have indeed nothing to envy from us - there, they have ETA & IRA. They should clearly keep their lessons for themselves.
Here in Belgium, even if problems are not less serious, no need for such extremists - we can use our tongues and our ears, even nowadays, which is just a common Belgian crisis.

This time map (pop-ups to be allowed) shows how many ways / routes existed when going from one side to the other ; an evolution from the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Sir Aurel Stein (?), Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, Anthony Jenkinson, Benedict Goës,… Only European explorers were mentioned - what about Asians ? There must have certainly been some (Genghis Khan ?).. Arabs used as well to extensively travel the world. (A pity the only information taught in (Belgian) school is mainly about “national progress for humanity”, forgetting the foreign ones. When history is about politics…)

From a cultural point of view, the same organization (ECAI Berkeley) made up a similar map concerning music instruments… very interesting

When you give a closer look to the map, you can notice the importance of Persia (currently Iran) in this global transportation network : a compulsory gate controlling two seas,… I can just imagine the cultural heritage 2500 years+ of caravans must have left to this country.

This map, found on the Internet, sounds quite complex to me, despite the explanation related to it (click on the map). Its aim is to classify countries according to their ties to religious or more rationale beliefs, survival or self-expression values.

It makes me a bit puzzled,… any enlightments from your side are welcome…

There are possibilities as well to just get the history of these less known Celtic regions (Whales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) part of the United Kingdom. Their cultural identities are supposed to be different from “main England”… do you believe the BBC fairly and objectively treated this, or is this biased ?