Since installing 'pcscd' to support the Belgian eID, FF takes up to 5 minutes to start. This used to work flawless.

So the next logical step would be to remove the spyware... I mean software and see if it makes a difference. What are you seeing in the logs when starting Firefox?

Thanks for your quick respons. Starting FF takes up to 5 minutes. Removing pcscd isn't an option : without that no connection to public services. No error logs whatsoever, just delay.

The best thing would be to ask other users of the same process on the same OS.