Poll: Dutch would welcome Belgium back

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A poll of Dutch citizens found 60 percent would support Belgium reunifying with the Netherlands 177 years after it broke away.

The poll was commissioned by the RTL broadcast company to gauge historic sentiment among the Dutch, from whom Belgium declared independence in 1830, Expatica reported Wednesday.

Despite the show of welcome support for a reunion, 83 percent of the undisclosed number of respondents said Belgium should ultimately remain independent.

About 25 percent of Dutch respondents said Flemish-speaking people in Flanders in northern Belgium and French-speakers in Wallonia in the south should separate into their own countries, the report said.

On the question of the countries' monarchies, 17 percent of people said each should retain their own, while 16 percent said both monarchies should be scrapped.