Belgium is a strange country. Is it really still a country? If it is up to the Dutch speaking part, Flanders, Belgium might soon be history. The last elections have apparently resulted in an impossible situation, because the winning parties on the Flemish side want more autonomy for Flanders. But the French-speaking part of the country does not like that idea at all. So the king was called upon to bring the quarreling parties together. Sometimes the royal family are half jokingly called 'the last remaining Belgians',  since almost all their citizens seem to call themselves Flemish or Walloon but not Belgian. Such crises happened before, but this time not even the king was able to solve it. What's next? Two new countries? And what happens then with Brussels, which is claimed by both sides?

Looking at it as an outsider, the fights between the two language groups seem to be a bit pathetic or even childish sometimes. But if you visit Flanders and see monuments like this (picture of 'IJzerbedevaart' site in Diksmuide), you know this is a serious struggle almost impossible to solve. A language border straight through a country is a weird idea. And to have the capital of Europe in the middle of this country where people with two languages can't even get along is a bit sad. I don't think Flanders and Wallonia would have much of a future if each of them became an independent country. So I really hope the Belgians find some solution soon and that Belgium will stay our southern neighbour!