Linguistic disputes in Belgium and Spain

There is a fascinating article in the Charlemagne section of The Economist this week describing why Belgium's unending linguistic disputes matter to Europe. As I write, no government has been formed since the general election of June 210 - 235 days. The problem is based around the differences between the richer Flemish North and French-speaking Wallonia. It is possible to draw a language line through Belgium - if your children live on one side of the line, their school teaches in French - on the other side Flemish.

Contrast this with the situation in the Spanish region of Catalonia, where schools teach in both Spanish and Catalan. Theoretically at least, neither language is dominant in education.

If it proves that there is no answer to the Belgian problem and the country splits along the language line, other European countries will hope that this is not a precedent for rich regions to go their own way.