Hi Gert-Jan,

Thanks very much for your long reply. It would have been a nice courtesy to at least read my entire post before replying, but one can't have everything in life.

It appears that the Irish education system has failed to educate people on the origins of Belgium. We were thought that it was a made up country to stop the French and the Dutch fighting over it, and that it only existed because the British guaranteed it.

From what I've read about the 1830 revolution, religion seems to have been what bound the Belgians together, the catholic parts of a mostly protestant Netherlands. I guess now that the church has lost it's influence, that uniting force has evaporated. The lack of a common language definitely is not good for Belgium. As you say, the rich and powerful from all over the country spoke French, and that's a major part of the problem. Flemish was repressed and seen as a language only for peasants. That's at the root of the Flemish nationalist movement. You could be true to your Flemish identity, or you could join the ruling class, but not both. I've always seen that Frenchification of the entire elite as Wallonia trying to assert it's dominance, and that's certainly how my grandfather's generation sees it.

I am aware that on paper Brussels is the Flemish capital, and that historically, it was the greatest of all the Flemish cities, but it isn't Flemish anymore. Best thing that could happen it would be that it be gifted to the EU to turn into a capital precinct. The natural capital of Flanders is Antwerp, a city that's more than up top the job.

As for economic arguments, they would have held a lot of sway before the EU, but not so now. We have a single European market. National borders within Europe just aren't what they used to be.

Right now Belgium is paralysed. It now holds the world record for being the least-able in all of recorded history to form a government. Surely this counts as chaos? It would be very disruptive for Flanders to split, but it would be disruption with a purpose now we just have endless chaos which is going nowhere. We've already had years of it, with no sign of a solution on the horizon. Even if a government were formed tomorrow it won't solve the problems. That government would have to actually prove to the people of Belgium, and indeed the world, that they are actually capable of running the country.

The fact that there is not a single national political party in Belgium shows just how divided a nation it is. If there really is a strong Belgian Nationalism there, why has it not assembled itself into a party?

Bart.