And of course, the Flemish and Walloons didn't have their own currency even before the Euro. Being no more than two hours' drive from a border wherever you are in the country probably helps too
.
.The Walloons (and particularly the Francophones in Brussels) don't care about being Walloon/Francophone, they care about being Belgian. The catch being that "Belgian" in their book means Francophone pretty much per definition (which isn't entirely as insulting as it might seem, considering that until less than a century ago, most of the Flemish elite thought the same thing). Wallonian separatism and rattachism (from "rattacher", in casu to France, even though it's kind of hard to see how Wallonia was ever attached to France in the first place) are both fringe movements, they all want to keep Belgium, but they don't seem to grasp that that would logically mean allowing the Flemish to pull their weight, and accepting that Belgium has a Dutch-language majority.
Still, the escalation of things in recent years have sparked something of a resurgence of pro-Belgian sentiment in the silent majority in Flanders, while it has convinced some on the Francophone side of the necessity of making efforts to show interest in Flanders, primarily through learning Dutch.
So the list of countries using the euro will grow longer, not shorter... Estonia to join in 2011
- 12/05/2010 10:51:37 PM
1168 Views
Sounds like a winner
- 12/05/2010 11:07:38 PM
780 Views
You Americans should like Estonia - they're rather neoliberal that way.
- 12/05/2010 11:18:30 PM
969 Views
I liked the remark one Estonian bankofficial made
- 12/05/2010 11:38:26 PM
745 Views
I do sometimes wish more Belgians would understand that.
- 12/05/2010 11:52:41 PM
674 Views
Re: I do sometimes wish more Belgians would understand that.
- 13/05/2010 12:05:03 AM
678 Views
That would be more convincing if universities promoted more social mobility.
- 13/05/2010 12:11:37 AM
807 Views
Social attitudes take a very long time to change.
- 13/05/2010 12:28:09 AM
830 Views
We have need-based scholarships. We could extend them.
- 13/05/2010 12:38:31 AM
713 Views
I guess it depends on exactly what the fees are.
- 13/05/2010 11:06:37 AM
808 Views
They're low. Too low.
- 13/05/2010 12:12:29 PM
822 Views
- 13/05/2010 12:12:29 PM
822 Views
American universities do have entrance exams. Sort of.
- 13/05/2010 02:17:13 PM
816 Views
- 13/05/2010 02:17:13 PM
816 Views
Those are really too lame to count.
- 13/05/2010 02:21:23 PM
858 Views
meh. Most degrees are useless anyway.
- 13/05/2010 01:14:54 AM
700 Views
That could be fixed if there weren't such stigma attached to vocational schools.
- 13/05/2010 02:18:40 AM
722 Views
Re: That would be more convincing if universities promoted more social mobility.
- 13/05/2010 08:08:16 PM
786 Views
Re: That would be more convincing if universities promoted more social mobility.
- 14/05/2010 11:48:22 AM
781 Views
Is it as late as university? Or is it a good bit earlier? EDIT: Nevermind. Answered elsewhere.
- 14/05/2010 05:36:50 PM
891 Views
Re: Is it as late as university? Or is it a good bit earlier? EDIT: Nevermind. Answered elsewhere.
- 14/05/2010 07:57:32 PM
729 Views
Re: That would be more convincing if universities promoted more social mobility.
- 14/05/2010 08:02:58 PM
834 Views
naw most of them are getting degrees in liberal arts because they like to read book more then work
*NM*
- 13/05/2010 02:01:59 PM
293 Views
*NM*
- 13/05/2010 02:01:59 PM
293 Views
Surely Sweden can say, or could have said, that they wouldn't join till they damn well felt like it?
- 12/05/2010 11:39:57 PM
728 Views
Apparently Denmark only got the opt-out after rejecting the Maastricht treaty.
- 12/05/2010 11:47:00 PM
766 Views
Good point: it seems to me no-one cares about being Belgian, only Flemish or Walloon
.
- 12/05/2010 11:51:27 PM
643 Views
.
- 12/05/2010 11:51:27 PM
643 Views
It's slightly more subtle than that.
- 13/05/2010 12:00:29 AM
805 Views
What do you think about this suggestion?
- 13/05/2010 12:09:02 AM
793 Views
That has been suggested by many, yeah.
- 13/05/2010 12:28:24 AM
806 Views
But before you make a decision like that...
- 13/05/2010 08:36:07 AM
786 Views
They can export him to another country which needs a king. Wouldn't be the first time.
- 13/05/2010 10:57:59 AM
728 Views
Hmm, a pan-European entity getting too big and splitting into Eastern and Western administrations...
- 13/05/2010 11:09:51 AM
710 Views
There is one answer to most of those questions
- 12/05/2010 11:49:46 PM
667 Views
I love that the rest of you have the euro.
- 12/05/2010 11:53:10 PM
662 Views
*waits for the Pound to drop and the UK begging for the euro*
*NM*
- 12/05/2010 11:56:25 PM
370 Views
*NM*
- 12/05/2010 11:56:25 PM
370 Views
That would be the worst time to do it.
- 13/05/2010 12:05:32 AM
763 Views
I think on the balance, that's probably better than the opposite, but yeah, neither is ideal. *NM*
- 13/05/2010 12:14:23 AM
342 Views
WOW WHEN DID THE UK CHANGE THEIR COINS
- 13/05/2010 12:10:41 AM
759 Views
- 13/05/2010 12:10:41 AM
759 Views
2008, apparently. Though I don't think we actually saw them until 2009.
- 13/05/2010 12:17:46 AM
772 Views
Oh. Okay. I guess the black is just a reflective thing they're doing for the photo.
- 13/05/2010 12:37:24 AM
701 Views
I used to use a ten-pound note to inhale...things.
- 13/05/2010 05:54:09 AM
719 Views
You have a thing for Charles Darwin?
- 13/05/2010 10:45:14 AM
664 Views
From "Mean Mr. Mustard" - "keeps a ten-bob note up his nose...such a mean old man..."
- 13/05/2010 02:36:34 PM
695 Views
In that case I'm going to have to disappoint you.
- 13/05/2010 02:54:04 PM
828 Views
I knew that, but I had limited options.
- 13/05/2010 03:15:07 PM
806 Views
You could try a €500 note.
- 13/05/2010 03:18:11 PM
706 Views
In other news, the sky is blue.
- 13/05/2010 03:33:25 PM
723 Views
- 13/05/2010 03:33:25 PM
723 Views
I seem to remember reading something in 2002 about Germans paying their monthly rent in cash.
- 13/05/2010 03:43:35 PM
802 Views
Ooh...I'm sure THAT will shore up the eurozone... *laughs*
- 13/05/2010 05:51:12 AM
752 Views
Nobody said it would.
- 13/05/2010 12:34:27 PM
726 Views
- 13/05/2010 12:34:27 PM
726 Views
You know what will save the eurozone ?
- 13/05/2010 04:55:06 PM
719 Views

*NM*