RE: Other than that, there’s not much good to say about Belgium, except the beer...
How true is it that the country is culturally and politically divided according to people who speak their own language?
I had two bosses, one Walloon (French) and one Felmish (Dutch-dialect speaking). First they fought over whose department I belonged in, and then, after I failed in my efforts to wrangle a promotion out of their conflict, they both ended up hating me.
Both groups would routinely refuse to speak the other's language, and that was to my advantage since English was seen as a good compromise. And both groups slammed the other. Walloons told me the Flemings were mostly Nazi collaborators, and Flemings said the same thing about the Waloons - I believed them both.
The Flemings have a reputation for being more business oriented and less government dependent; there may be a slight degree of truth to that, mainly because heavy industry in the Frendch-speaking areas dried up, leaving the people dependent on government handouts.
As is usual in Europe, too much history is to blame. The Waloons persecuted the Flemings in the past, banning their language and closing their ports and now the Flemings want to get even.
A pox on both their houses!