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To my conviction the EU will breakup at some time. If we theoretically presuppose that, then there could still be countries continuing the cooperation, which would f. i. make sense for German speaking countries. You would have the advantages of cooperation without facing a cultural destruction. Let's call that a German union. I'd not like to have any onther language speakers than German ones in such a political entity. But I would be okay with Dutch/Flemish being part of it. To my feeling German language and culture could never be harmed by another German (in a wider sense) language and culture, such as Dutch/Flemish imo are. Admittedly I here take into consideration that the population proportions of Dutch/Flemish would not be able to question the high German language.
But I wonder, how would Dutch/Flemish people think about such conditions? Definitely the high German language would would get more spread somewhat - realistically in long terms at expense of Dutch/Flemish. But also we in Germany, where half of the population historically once was speaking Low German have been essentially okay with that development. It was a long term change that goes over centuries. It was a notable linguistic sacrifice in favor for a German cooperation and unification, but high German was never felt as an alienation.
What are the Dutch/Flemish feelings about the high German language? Would Flemish/Dutch speaking people feel okay with being in a "German union" (on an EU-like level)?
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