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Summary French or Dutch songs might irritate rival communities in the linguistically divided country.
The metro operator decided in 2005 to pipe mostly pop hits at the 69 metro stops but Brussels despite being largely French speaking city has ruled out playing French music at its stations after an experiment drew complaints from Dutch-speaking Belgians. A new experiment confirmed that French or Dutch songs might irritate rival communities in the linguistically divided country. A number of French songs and practically none in Dutch and this drew complaints from Dutch-speakers. The stations have since resumed a playlist of hits with 70 percent in English, 15 percent in Italian and 15 percent in Spanish. Dutch speakers complain that francophone make little or no effort to learn Dutch and Dutch-speaking communities around Brussels fight what they see as the spread of French from the capital, which is officially bilingual.
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