July 21st

Quite a coincidence, but lots of national holidays are in the month of July. The Americans celebrate 4th July, the French 14th July. And we Belgians have 21st July. Not that there really is a national feeling in Belgium. For that, the two main groups of residents are way too different.

There are the Flemish (65% of the population) on one side, and the Walloons (35%) on the other one. The rest, 5%, are German-speaking and don't count for anything.

If you go back in time, to the Middle Ages, Flanders was a force on its own, while the other region was also independent. In 1830 the state of Belgium was created. In those days, the level of welfare came mainly from the southern provinces, because they had steel factories and coal mines. French was the language spoken - and the poor Flemish were considered ignorant peasants.

But times change. The ignorant peasants got their own universitiy, developed special skills and slowly the balance changed. Now we are the rich part of the country, and a lot of our tax money is shifted to the poorer part. Here in Flanders there are a couple of political parties that strive for independence. I don't know if it's ever going to happen.

Brussels is a case apart. It doesn't belong to Flanders or to Wallony. Neither part would want it to be their capital in case of two seperate states. The Flemish capital would be Antwerp or Ghent, and Namur of Liege could be the one of Wallony. In Brussels you have a mix of nationalities, it's the base for the European Parliament and there's a big center of NATO.

Around noon today there will be a national defile, attented by the royal family: King Filip and his wife Mathilde, their sons and daughters (Elisabeth, Gabriel, Elionore and Emmanuel), his brother and wife, his sister Astrid and her husband - and their new sister, princess Delphine (the bastard daughter of former king Albert II).