crush wallonia haha?

cmon ... with this kind of government it cant go that longer anymore. If we want a gd and strong belgium we should make plans and yes give more authority to the flemisch side aswell.
Every flemisch pays 5100 euro/ year to a wallonian to help now we ask for some changes and all the wallonian politicians says "no". All they can say is "no" this going on for a few years now. Its better to split it will happen anyway if its not now it will be in 5-10 years.

Nick, Zwevegem, West-Flanders

I am living in the french part of Belgium and if we are a minority, we are not a poor region! This is a picture transported by a political way in the Flemish region . if you compare the difference, for the gross domestic product, between the flemich region and the Wallonia with Brussels, it exist no differences. Brussels is NOT in flanders. Brussels is the capital of Belgium. Flemich have auto attributated Brussels as theyre capital. But for Wallonia, Brussels is a french part of Belgium. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make Brussels capital of a region if a large majority of peoples doesn't want to speak the lang of this region. So Flemich are arrogant ! They want all of it now because they know that on the international scene they have a great handicap: theyre dutch speaking. They would like to crush Wallonia. In Wallonia, people are welcome as they are. We can accept someone with is language, is culture,... Flemich can't do that. If flemich want to split the country, we have to do it.

Damien, Namur, Belgium

If Belgium have to be splitted, I think that Wallonie will be the winner of this operation. So I am to a split of Belgium.

Damien, Namur, Belgium

If they make it like DC they should at least give it representation along with the taxation -- DC is a colony.

Tony Williams, The Colony of Washington, DC, USA

It is horrifying to see how the media can provoke certain anti-Francophone feelings with the Flemish public opinion. How easy is it to persuade the people of an idea? If you listen to certain speeches of the "Vlaams Belang", a Flemish party full of racists and separatists, you will understand that the people can be deceived very easily if you use the demagogic language they (and especially Filip De Winter) use.
The fact is that the intellectual elite of Belgium (artists and writers) entirely disagree with the public opinion of Flanders and certainly disapprove of a future secession.
Many people don't see that the solidarity of the Flemish people towards the Franchophone people an example is of on of the main ideas of the Europenian Union. It is a fact that the rich countries of Europe economically support the poor countries of Europe. So why discussing the same solidarity we give to the poor part of our country? That is the basic idea of Europe!

Mathieu Dujardin, Ghent, East-Flanders, Belgium

like they say make brussels like some sort of washington DC but then in europe and fund it with european money. Think that is the most logical way dnno.

Nick, Zwevegem, West-Flanders

Most of the comments are true and not gonna write them all down again( see article about scotland 10sept) Secondly yes belgium is nice but the king and queen and those other tax eating royal family members should be kicked out.And if the wallonians dont like our demands they can go together with our "beloved" king .

Leve de republiek, Vive la republique ;-)

Nick, Zwevegem, West-Flanders

Hmmm, it's just a political question. The Dutch speaking community in Brussels and the outskirts may only vote for Flemish parties, while bilangual regions can vote for Flemish ánd Walloon parties. That's why they want to split up Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde into a Flemish part and a Walloon part. Only, to find the perfect division, it's a difficult job, and there are a lot of arguments between the Dutch speaking and the French speaking community etc. That's one of the reasons why a splitting of the country is near... Only, what will they do with Brussels, that's the big question...?

Cedric De Boom, Beveren-Waas, Belgium

The eternal problem since 1830. Some politicians call Belgium a "historical acciden" but nevertheless the system of cohabitation seems to have worked for much more than a century.

Ray Massart, Hombeek, Belgium

If the Walloons and Flemings can split up and go their own ways, including perhaps joining other countries, can any one tell me why the Turkish Cypriots are not allowed to do the same?

Ozgur, Istanbul, Turkey

There something about French speaking people.

Keith, Corpus Christi, Texas

Good points for David Charter in Brussels when he spoke of 'the Dutch-speaking North'. Not that many foreign journalists seem to know that Dutch is the mothertongue of the Flemings. Bad points for him when he reverts a bit later to 'Flemish-speaking Flanders'. King Albert II didn't have to persuade the old Cabinet to become the caretaker government. The old Cabinet became so by law. King Albert II cannot find a solution to the political crisis, because this isn't his constitutional role. In reality he's not more than a puppet on a string that dances to the pied piper's tune (i.e. to the ruling political elite's tunes). If the country were to split, I don't think the lot of our royal family would be of great interest to our politicians and to the population in general. Our royal family may have been one of the glues that held the country together. But that has ceased to be the case. Will the country split? Yes, if the country doesn't redefine itself.

Eddy Verhaeghe, Oostende, Belgium

Joal Delm,
Oh, please don't! Last time it caused 60 million deaths. Some people are better left mute.

Frederick Davies, Oxford, UK

Good points for David Charter in Brussels when he spoke of the Dutch-speaking North of Belgium. Not that many foreign journalists seem to know that Dutch is the mothertongue of the Flemings.
Bad points for him when he reverts a bit later to 'Flemish-speaking Flanders'.
King Albert II didn't have to persuade the old Cabinet to become the caretaker government. The old Cabinet became so by law.
King Albert II cannot find a solution to the political crisis, because this isn't his constitutional role. In reality he's not more than a puppet on a string that dances to the pied piper's
tune (i.e. to the ruling political elite's tunes).
If the country were to split, I don't think the lot of our royal family would be of great interest to our politicians and to the population in general. Our royal family may have been one of the glues that held the country together. But that has ceased to be the case.
Will the country split? Yes, if the country doesn't redefine itself.

Eddy Verhaeghe, Oostende, Belgium

==> Leif Randall.

I'm French speaking and I speak Dutch. So, what ?

PS : by the way how many languages do YOU speak ?

titi, Liège,

==> Joal Delm. There are about 73.000 people in the german speaking community. So about 0.73 % of the population; far from 15 %... (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-speaking_Community_of_Belgium )

titi, Liège,

Just as with the EU or the UK, tying poor, welfare addicted nations to wealthy successful ones is not a good recipe for lasting success.

R Spear, Lewes, UK

Strange country we live in. The antagonism between the Flemish and French speaking communities have existed since Belgium came into existence in 1830 and up to now the country as a whole has worked. I believe that most inhabitants of this mini-landmark are slowly becoming fed up with the actual squabbling and would prefer to see a new government concentrate on more important issues such as employment and economics in general.

Ray Massart, Hombeek, Belgium

beautiful cities, wonderful lifestyle, great food, nice people.
only problem: if the French speakers would have had enough respect for their fellow-citizens to learn Dutch, none of this would be happening.

Leif Randall, New York, USA

Three peoples!
They always forget the Germans, also nearly 15% of Belgiums population.
What will they do?
Nobody asked them, sofar.

Joal Delm, Antwerpen, Belgium

Maybe they can show Canada how it's done.

warren, calgary,

Belgium was created in the 1830's because Britain was afraid to see the french-speaking Wallonie under the French rule (as it was during the Napoleonic era)Therefore, the marriage between the dutch-speaking region and the Wallonie is not a marriage of love but of interests. They were put together for the sake of European strategic balance.

Francois, paris, France

I've been living in Belgium for nearly 25 years and have seen many of these post-election deadlocks. However, there is a feeling here that this one is different. Like an unhapppy marriage, the relationship between Flemish and Wallons has gradually deteriorated over the years to the point where the Flemish in particular are 'beyond caring'. Expect this crisis to run and run.

Ciaran, Brussels,

For the average Englishman this situation is impossible to understand, as an anecdote, I`ll explain a situation which arose yesterday. I phoned the local telephone company to make changes on my contract. As I only could think of the French term - the Flemish operator replied that she ignored this term as she didn`t speak French. I replied that she must have knowledge of this term on which she said `The French speakers would not know it in Flemish either`. She knew it in English of course. But, English is not one of the national languages, but I gave in and spoke in English. Irritated, I redialled the number and spoke to a French operator and upon hearing my accent she joyfully demonstrated her knowledge of English. I wondered if she knew the term in Flemish and then thought to myself `What the hell am I fooling around for !` Have I not better things to do ! Then, this is typical of time-wasting in Brussels due to irritable language problems. Ask your way in English its safer.

Ann Johnson, Brussels, Belgium

Hi,
As a Swiss/British citizen living in Holland I notice the discrepancies and animosities between the Dutch and the Belgium’s. Wellington (the British) made Belgium out of bits and pieces and as a consequence a national identity has been difficult to find. This is also something mainland European, don’t get on with your neighbour.

Terence Hale, Zanvoort, Holland

If the politicians cannot agree, get rid of them and let the people who want to remain united, stay united. A bit obvious, isn't it?

Patrick Bagot, Istanbul, TURKEY.

Not for nothing is Belgium known as the Canada of europe, nice country, nice manners, friendly citizens, and two peoples that can't live together. A French minority that holds the rest of the country to ransom , sounds familiar. Oh, one difference, Belgium has better 'frites'

Neil, Toronto, Canada

This is an interesting situation, given that a century ago Flanders was the poor relation and the coal mines brought wealth to Wallonia.

The Flemings are in a sticky situation if they want to secede. Brussels is the capital of Flanders as well as of Belgium. Though in reality the majority speaks French there. But King Albert can speak Dutch when he wants to.

If Flanders were to break away, it would either have to go it alone, or join the Netherlands. Going it alone would be tricky economically, no doubt, as it would be for Scotland. Joining the Netherlands would have psychological consequences. Many Dutch people look upon Flanders as somewhat inferior. And given the fact that the Flemings have been shut of Dutch domination for some 150 years, re-marriage may not be easy. Flanders will become just another province of a Holland-dominated Netherlands.

Given the way the Belgians do it, they will probably muddle along and things will cool down. Business as usual will resume

Eric Dickens, Blaricum, Netherlands