Ukraine: The Belgium of the East ?

Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Romance Europe, Belgium is linguistically divided. It has two main languages: 59% of its population, being 6.18 million people in the north, mainly in the region Flanders, speak Dutch (while Belgians of both major languages often refer to it as Flemish); French is spoken by 40%: 3.29 million in the southern region Wallonia and an estimated 0.88 million in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region or 85-90% of its residents – thus a minority there speaks Dutch, its local language till the first half of the 20th century. Less than 1% of the Belgians, around 70,000 live in the German-speaking Community in the east of the Walloon Region. This linguistic diversity often leads to political and cultural conflict and is reflected in Belgium’s complex system of government and political history but generally works pretty well.

In Belgium the three languages are equally treated and all three are “official languages”.

Maybe the officials in Kiev should have a look at Brussels and get some advice there, regarding how to integrate different ethnic groups, with their individual languages, in a successful democracy.

Why do people always seem to have to look across the Atlantic when promising ideas exist so much closer.