Language legislation in Belgium
Encyclopedia
1830: freedom of languages and linguistic coercion
One of the causes of the Belgian RevolutionBelgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the Southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium....
of the 1830s was the growing ascendancy of the Dutch language
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
in the administration of the Southern provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...
. This led to friction with the aristocracy of the southern provinces (modern-day Belgium), whose main language was French.
The citizens in the Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
provinces sought to be treated by the authorities in their Dutch language. After the Belgian Revolution, the Belgian Constitution guaranteed the general freedom of languages. Practically, it did not mean citizens would be treated by the authorities in their language, but that the authorities could address themselves to the citizens in the language the authorities wished to use. The authorities, dominated by the French-speaking upper classes, generally made their institutions and courts function in French. French became the lingua franca, being neither the everyday language of the Flemish speaking North, nor of the South, where Walloon dialects were the everyday language; apart from in the mainly German- or Luxemburgish-speaking environs of Arlon. As universal education developed in Belgium, French was initially the sole language of instruction, causing increasing resentment in the northern half of the country.
In 1860, two Flemish labourers, Jan Coucke and Pieter Goethals
Jan Coucke and Pieter Goethals
Jan Coucke and Pieter Goethals were two Flemings who were sentenced to death for murder in 1860 at a time Belgium was legally only French-speaking, though the majority of the citizens spoke Dutch, and only the official language was acknowledged by the Courts of Justice...
, were sentenced to death for the murder of a widow without having understood one single word of their trial. They were found innocent only after their execution. The Flemish movement
Flemish movement
The Flemish Movement is a popular term used to describe the political movement for emancipation and greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language, and for the over-all protection of Flemish culture and history....
started to advocate for a legislation on the use of languages that would also impose Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
as an official language. The laws on the use of languages put once again a linguistic coercion on the public authorities and on the Courts in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
1873: the first laws on the use of languages
The first law on the use of languages was voted on in 1873. There had been much commotion in 1872, when Jozef Schoep refused to pay a fine of 50 francs for not wanting to declare the birth of his son in French to the municipal administration of Molenbeek. Civil cases on appeal had always led to discussions about the use of languages and Schoep was convicted after an appeal in CassationCourt of Cassation (Belgium)
The Court of Cassation is the main court of last resort in Belgium.It was originally modelled after the French Cour de cassation. Its jurisdiction and powers are similar to those of its French counterpart....
.
The first law on the use of languages, pleaded for by Edward Coremans, regulated the use of languages in the Courts in Flanders. Dutch became the major language in Flanders, but it was still allowed to pronounce oral pleadings and penal action in French.
1878: the second law on the use of languages
The second law on the use of languages (1878) regulates the use of language in the administrations of Flanders and Brussels. Announcements to the public by government officials had to be in Dutch or in both languages. The correspondence with municipalities or persons would be in Dutch, except if a person wished to be approached in French. In reality, the law in daily life was hardly applied: Flemish citizens were still being forced to speak French in their communications with the administration, as most civil servants only spoke French.1883: the third law on the use of languages
Until 1883, education in secondary schools had been entirely in French. The third law on the use of languages was voted on in order to bring change to this situation.1898: the Law on Equality
In 1898, the Law on Equality is voted on: Dutch and French were now to be regarded as equal official languages. The French native speakers were not willing to learn any Dutch and were therefore not able to read the Dutch texts they were supposed to vote on in parliament. This problem existed only in one direction (Dutch speakers would learn French). The law nevertheless was voted on under pressure from the population and thanks to the extension of the suffrage to every male citizen aged 25, despite some census suffrage.1921: a bilingual nation or languages linked to a region
Some segments of French-speaking Wallonia were concerned that this could result in Belgium becoming a bilingual country. This led to a proposal to split the administration in Belgium to preserve the French-speaking nature of Wallonia and to avoid the possibility that French-speaking civil servants in Wallonia might have to pass a Dutch language examination.The question was: would Belgium become a bilingual country or a country with two language regions. This implied the choice between :
- Personality principle: Every citizen can address the authorities in the language of their choice, regardless of their region of residence.
- Territoriality principle: The working language in a particular region follows accepted language boundaries.
In 1921, the principle of territoriality was chosen and confirmed in 1930 and 1962. The language areas were outlined according to the principle of the language of the majority of the population.
So every ten years a census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
was conducted. A municipality could only change its linguistic status according to the findings of the census. This resulted in a more flexible principle of territoriality with the possibility for minorities representing at least 30% of the local population to obtain services in their language of origin.
1962: establishment of the language areas and facilities
For this reason, in 1962 a law determined which municipality belonged to what language area. Each Belgian municipality belongs to only one language area, of which there are four: the Dutch, the French, the German, and the bilingual area Brussels-Capital that includes the Belgian capital city and eighteen surrounding municipalities. From then on, modifications of the linguistic regime would only be possible after changing the law, which requires a majority of each language community. In that same year, the municipality of Voeren (Fourons) went to the Dutch-speaking province of LimburgLimburg (Belgium)
Limburg is the easternmost province of modern Flanders, which is one of the three main political and cultural sub-divisions of modern Belgium. It is located west of the river Meuse . It borders on the Dutch provinces of North Brabant and Limburg and the Belgian provinces of Liège, Flemish Brabant...
, and Comines (Komen)
Comines-Warneton
Comines-Warneton is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006, Comines-Warneton had a total population of 17,562. The total area is 61.09 km² which gives a population density of 287 inhabitants per km². The name "Comines" is believed to have a...
and Mouscron (Moeskroen)
Mouscron
Mouscron is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. The Mouscron municipality includes the old communes of Dottignies , Luingne, and Herseaux .-Middle Ages:...
to the French-speaking province of Hainaut. Those and several other municipalities obtained facilities for the minority language group.
In a municipality with a minority speaking another official language, facilities were provided for the registered residents speaking the latter language, such as for instance education in their language when sixteen parents ask for it. A resident of a municipality has no such rights in a neighbouring municipality. To benefit from these facilities, the facilities have to be asked for by the person concerned. The question was put whether the facilities had to be asked each time or if it was sufficient to ask them once. The circular by minister Peeters
Leo Peeters
Leo Albert Elisabeth Peeters is a Flemish politician and a member of the Socialist Party Different ....
requires that inhabitants of those municipalities ask for facilities each time they want to enjoy them.
Moreover, the facilities are not meant for the authorities, which led in Voeren to a crisis around mayor José Happart, and they are applied only for those residents who ask for them.
Protest raised by French-speakers before ECtHR were mostly unsuccessful (Belgian Linguistics Case
Belgian Linguistics Case
The Belgian Linguistic case is a formative case on the right to education under the European Convention of Human Rights, Protocol 1, art 2...
).
A number of institutions obtained the authorisation to become bilingual, such as the Catholic University of Leuven
Catholic University of Leuven
The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...
.
1970: insertion of the language areas into the Constitution
In 1970, on the completion of the first state reform, four language areas were established by Article 4 of the Constitution. Since then language affiliation of municipalities can only be changed by special lawSpecial law
A special law or qualified majority law is a type of legislation in Belgium which requires a qualified majority in both chambers of the bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament to be adopted, amended or repealed. The Belgian Constitution determines which laws require a qualified or special majority...
. At the same time language communities were established, with the Flemish and French Community made competent for the regulation of the use of languages in their language area in the areas of administration, education and interaction between employer and employee.
At present: freedom of languages and linguistic coercion
Although the use of languages by the authorities is determined, as well as the use of languages by the administration and the army, the courts, and in the field of education and businesses, the constitutional freedom of language remains absolutely intact in the private domain.In this field, at present, there are still tensions concerning Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde is a Belgian electoral and judicial arrondissement in the center of the country, encompassing:* the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides...
.
The National Railway Company of Belgium gives its information in the train in the language of the region. This means for instance that in a train driving from Antwerp to Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
, announcements are made – during a single train ride – firstly (in the Flemish Region
Flemish Region
The Flemish Region is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is usually simply referred to as Flanders, of which it is the institutional iteration within the context of the Belgian political system...
) in Dutch, then (in the Brussels-Capital Region) in both languages (in the language native to the announcing railway employee immediately followed by the other), then (again in the Flemish Region) once more only in Dutch and thereafter (in the Walloon Region) only in French. The ticket inspector however is bound to respond in either language.
See also
- Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
- State reform in BelgiumState reform in BelgiumThe term State reform in the Belgian context indicates a process towards finding constitutional and legal solutions for the problems and tensions between the different segments of the Belgian population, mostly Dutch-speakers of Flanders and French-speakers of Wallonia...
- Frenchification of BrusselsFrenchification of BrusselsThe Frenchification of Brussels is the transformation of Brussels, Belgium, from a Dutch-speaking city to one that is bilingual or even multilingual, with French as both the majority language and lingua franca...