Two-thirds favour Brussels as independent city state

Nearly seven out of 10 Brussels inhabitants would opt for the capital to become an independent city state in the event that Flemish nationalist designs bring about the end of Belgium, a poll showed on Saturday. In total, 68% of those surveyed in the Brussels-Capital Region, home to nearly two million of Belgium’s 11 million inhabitants, would prefer to go it alone rather than join French-speaking Wallonia or the Dutch-speaking Flanders region that surrounds it, were the country to break up. The Ipsos poll, commissioned by broadcaster RTL-TVI and French-language daily Le Soir, surveyed 2,499 people over the age of 18 across the three federal regions and found that 26% in Brussels would want to join forces with Wallonia but only 6% would side with Flanders. However, 66% of those interviewed across the three territories believe that Belgium as an entity still has a future.

(AFP)