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David, the way Vincent explained it to me is that Belgium has a complicated system of dishing out transport subsidies. So if a Flanders city gets something, so does a Wallonian city. That's why the Charleroi metro was a response to Antwerp getting its tram tunnel system. I expect the Liege light metro was supposed to be another expensive 'gift' to the Wallonians, but the costs were so high they quietly gave it the chop.
This may well be right - there are many complications with the linguistic divide. This was a period when much of the heavy industry in the French-speaking cities was dying and Flanders (previously regarded as just the poor, largely agricultural partner) was forging ahead and becoming the new power house of Belgian affairs. Much investment was poured into Wallonia in an attempt to reverse the trend.