The regions are mostly responsible for the economy, mobility and other territory-related matters. Belgium is also divided into three communities: the Flemish Community, the French Community and the German-speaking Community. These communities are responsible for language-related matters such as culture or education. Brussels does not belong to any community, but has a bilingual status, so Brussels' inhabitants may enjoy education, cultural affairs and education organised by the Flemish and/or the French community. This structure is the result of many compromises in the political spectrum going from separatism to unionism, while also combining the wishes of the Brussels population to have a degree of independence, as well as those of the Flemish and Walloon populations to having a level of influence over Brussels. The system has been criticised by some but it has also been compared to the EU, as a "laboratory of Europe". In the hypothetical scenario of a separation of Belgium, the future status of Brussels is unknown. It might become an EU member state, or jointly run by the nations formed from Belgium and the EU itself. The possible status of Brussels as a "city state" has also been suggested by Charles Picqué, who sees a tax on the EU institutions as a way of enriching the city. However, the Belgian issue has very little discussion within the EU bodies. The boundaries of the Brussels-Capital Region were determined from the 1947 language census' data. This was the last time that some municipalities were legally converted from monolingual Dutch-speaking into bilingual municipalities, joined with the Brussels agglomeration. The suggestive nature of the questions led to massive protests in Flanders (especially around Brussels), causing it to be unlikely to ever hold a language-related census again in Belgium. The result is that the Brussels Region is now a lot smaller than the French-speaking influence around the capital, and that there is very little space left in Brussels for important expansions of its infrastructure. Enlarging the territory of Brussels could potentially give it around 1.5 million inhabitants, an airport, a bigger forest, and bring the Brussels Ring onto its territory. A large and independent status may also help Brussels in its claim as the capital of the EU. See also European Institutions in Strasbourg History of the European Union Institutions of the European Union Location of European Union institutions References Notes Bibliography Dotti, 2013 "Update of the Economic Impact of the European