Among the Flemish population of Belgium one finds supporters of independence. There are other examples in Europe such as Scotland, Corsica, Catalonia or the Basque country. But these are vertical conflicts, sometimes even violent between the regions in question and central government. In Belgium we have more of a horizontal conflict and therefore a case of inter-regional boundaries and, perhaps, of inter-regional cooperation. The focus is on Flanders and Wallonia. But there is also Brussels which further complicates the matter. Apart from the status quo, three possibilities exist: 'Brussels & Wallonia' (the French-speaking but not the French Community); 'Brussels & Flanders' the Flemish Community; and 'Brussels DC'. More about Brussels later.
Flanders and Wallonia are once again separated by a language barrier. Communication between the regions even seems to have become less easy since the Flemish prefer English as a second language to French and the Walloons stay basically 'mono-lingue'. Higher education is segregated along language lines. Ever since the spectacular splitting of the Catholic University of Leuven in 1968, the Flemisch Leuven became increasingly integrated into an English-speaking network, quite different from the French-speaking network of Louvain-la-Neuve.
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