Lovers of chips and beer – but don’t ask about the politics?

Belgians are the subject of a huge amount of jokes and clichés in Europe, and especially in France and the Netherlands, with whom they share common languages. Belgians are said to eat chips, mussels, chocolate and waffles at every meal, have beer running through their veins and only read comic books. A common picture about Belgium is also that its political system is a mess. The political system is difficult to understand, mainly because of the constant fight between Flanders and Wallonia, or between the Flemish and French Communities. Even within the country, Flemish and Walloon parts tend to have stereotypes about each other: French speakers are depicted as lazy, monolingual and football fans, whereas the Flems are regarded as hard-workers, bilingual and ambitious. But the funny thing about about Belgium is that the Belgians play right along, and feed their own stereotype.