 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, and the wishes of the Flemish and Walloon population to have a level of influence in Brussels.It has been criticised by some but the system has also been compared to the EU, as a "laboratory of Europe".In the unlikely event of complete independence of a region, the future status of the city is unknown and problematic, but some have suggested it become a "European capital district", like Washington D.C. or the Australian Capital Territory, run by the EU rather than Flanders or Wallonia.