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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (340184)	6/14/2007 5:51:11 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571405

Re: The key question is Belgium getting ready to split apart ala the former Czechoslovakia? Yes and no... Yes, to the extent that Czechoslovakia's breakup was bloodless --hence the Velvet Revolution: en.wikipedia.org And no, to the extent that the new countries resulting from the Czechoslovakian split (the Czech Republic and Slovakia) were not subsequently merged with neighboring countries.... I strongly suspect the Netherlands of craving Belgium's Flanders. Actually, I once heard in a TV reportage a Dutch Senator claim that "Flanders would be a pretty bride for the Netherlands, if only because her GDP per capita was higher than the Dutch one...." Moreover, if Flanders merged with the Netherlands, the latter would move up in the EU league overnight. I mean, today, among the 27 EU members, the Netherlands is still viewed as a "small country" together with Belgium, Luxembourg, the Baltic states, Portugal,..., well below the big-league countries (Germany, France, Britain and Italy) but also below the medium countries (Spain, Poland, Hungary). A Greater Netherlands, stretching from De Panne to Delfzijl and surrounding the Brussels enclave, would surely qualify for the EU medium league, both in terms of GDP and population (16.5 + 6 = 22.5 million). When the EU consisted of only 15 member-states (as of May 2004), it somehow didn't matter much how "big" a country was... but today, as the EU has morphed into a 27-member smorgasbord --and sprawling-- each member can understandably seek to increase its clout, its political weight, within the whole.... Likewise, France, a proud, imperious country, yet mired into deepening financial and social problems, might relish the prospect of widening her territory, if only as an escapist sop to her feeling of decadence and lost grandeur.... A Belgian split would likely mean a 60/40 split of Belgium's public debt, that is, 150 billion euros for Flanders and 100 billion euros for Wallonia, the latter to be added up to France's 2,000 billion euros of public debt --a mere 5% increase.... Re: And if so, will the EU capital remain in Brussels? Why not? Gus