The true winner of the Belgian language wars is, not very surprisingly, English.For once, this insight is not only thanks to my perception but to an academic article. The article was published in 2007; hence before a 9 months interim without a government and the exacerbation of the conflicts around the notoriously famous BHV.
Besides providing some evidence on the rise of English in Belgium in general, the article states some interesting facts about Brussels:
In all the Flemish and Walloon provinces, people of Belgian descent exceed 80%. In Brussels, by contrast, they represent just 44%. The residents of non-European descent remain under 10% in all provinces, while in Brussels they make up one third of the population.
To put this the other way round: 1 out of 2 people living in the capital is not of Belgian origin. 1 out of 3, not of European. I’m not sure if the Flemish nationalists are aware of this when they claim back ‘their capital’…
La puce, die Welt and everything else 