PARIS, November 16, 2007 (LPAC)--Several polls were conducted in both France and the Netherlands to profile populations and evaluate if, in case of the break-up of Belgium, the Dutch population would agree to reunite with the Dutch-speaking Flemings of Belgium and if Frenchmen would agree the absorption of the Walloons into France. A poll done by IFOP for the French Sunday paper Journal du Dimanche on Nov. 11 says 54% of all Frenchmen would be in favor of accepting the Walloons, with 10% being very favorable. The paper says the ratio of Frenchmen having Belgian origins or family links is quite substantial.

The Dutch free daily Dag of Nov. 12 says 45% of all Dutch would accept reunification with the Dutch-speaking Flanders. The Dutch language is dying off in the Netherlands and is occasionally replaced with English, so Dag says that a larger country with 22 million people would be stronger than the current 16 million living in the Netherlands, even launching a petition asking the members of the Dutch parliament to include reunification on their agenda! 80% of all Dutch claim they "quite like" Flemings. "It would bring an end to the savage competition between two major ports of Europe: Antwerp and Rotterdam," writes the paper and the "new" country could be called "Deltaland," "Orangeland," or "The Dutch Flemish Federation."

Today's Liberation reports the danger of even wilder balkanization, noting that Steve Stevaert, the governor of the Belgian province of Limburg made a statement asking to reunite with the "sister" province of Dutch Limburg, with the perspective of making Limburg a single "European" province. Liberation writes: "as if a menace of balkanization floats over the heart of the [European] Union."