A quote from Ian Traynor in The Observer, 2 December 2007

Last month Flemish MPs of all parties, bar one Green, dissolved the pact that has been the underlying basis of government in Belgium for decades, forcing a vote against the wishes of the francophone side and resorting to majority rule. [...] In Brussels, more than 20,000 people rallied on the streets a fortnight ago to profess their loyalty to a state called Belgium. But beyond the capital, particularly in Flanders, the mood is different. [...]

Through almost six months of negotiations, the Flemish side has insisted on further concessions to ethnic and linguistic autonomy as the price for forming a common government, concessions that further down the road will hasten the break-up of the country.

Leterme had been seeking a way out of the crisis by securing agreement on a coalition of technocratic managers who would run the country while a convention of constitutional reformers was charged with coming up with a new blueprint for Belgium within a year.

In addition to the extensive autonomy already exercised by the two regions, the Flemish side is demanding greater powers over taxation and social security, powers that would further impoverish Wallonia, impinge on national solidarity and probably hasten the slow-motion death of a country created by the great European powers in 1830.