At least, that is, when it comes to music in the stations of the metro and pre-metro. Once, music was provided in the form of muzak, also known as “elevator music”, familiar to anyone who was ever put on hold by a customer service desk.

Then MIVB decided to play songs from the international hit parade in the metro stations, but that presented one problem: While there are often songs in French that make it to the charts, the same is rarely true for songs in Dutch. Every time a song came on in French, reported a spokesperson for the MIVB, there were “dozens” of complaints from overlooked Dutch speakers.

The solution was to remove all source of conflict by playing only songs in English (70% of the time), Italian (15%) and Spanish (15%). “No Jacques Brel in Jacques Brel station!” tweeted the English- Flemish comedian Nigel Williams. The rule came as a surprise to Brigitte Grouwels, Brussels minister for transport. “I understand the MIVB’s desire to stay neutral, but the existing rule leads to home-grown musicians having less chance of being heard than foreign artists,” she noted.

The MIVB is now considering a proposal to give both French and Dutch a 10% share each, while leaving English on 70%, with Italian and Spanish sharing the rest. After 21.00, meanwhile, the metro will switch over to classical music (regardless of nationality). There is still a place for Bizet in Bizet station.