AP, you do recall correctly, it was reported at the time as a well orchestrated spoof that got the Belgians all quite excited for a few hours.
Mark Mardell (BBC European correspondent) ran a piece recently on the issue of no government being in place despite the June elections, he offered that:
- the Flemish part is economically robust, profitable and could exist as an independent state.
- the Brussels area including EU, NATO, diplomats for both as well as national embassies (ie some countries have 3 separate delegations there), and European hubs/HQs for industry, could exist as a city state - cf Vatican.
- the Walloons (Frenchies in the south) have no economic potential and although they see themselves as French, the inhabitants of northern France can't stand them, so the Walloons need Belgium else they have nothing.