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2. IN WHICH LANGUAGE CAN I CONTACT THE AUTHORITIES?


In principle, any contacts with the authorities take place in the language of the area where they are located.In Flanders, this is Dutch; in Wallonia, French or German and in Brussels, Dutch or French.This rule usually only applies to the authorities themselves.You are therefore not always obliged to use the official language when addressing the authorities.In most cases, civil servants will only answer and documents will only be drawn up in the official language.

Due to its state structure, Belgium has many different levels of government. These include the federal (central) authorities, the Communities and Regions, which partially overlap, the provinces and the municipalities. You will probably come into contact with some authorities more often than with others.
In principle, the language of each authority is that of the language area where it is located. In other words: the language of that area is the language of administration. This rule always applies to the authorities. Therefore, you cannot just assume that civil servants will understand your language. In fact, in most cases the authorities are only allowed to reply in the official language. In addition, the documents of the authorities are only drawn up in the official language.

 

THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL

The municipality is the level of government that is closest to the people. This is where you collect your identity card, receive information about domestic waste collection, submit a change of address, register a birth, marriage, etc. Each municipality belongs to a specific language area and communicates in the language of that language area. A municipality in the Dutch language area only communicates in Dutch and a municipality in the French language area only in French. In Brussels, municipal civil servants must be able to help residents both in Dutch and in French.
The same language regulation applies to the openbare centra voor maatschappelijk welzijn or OCMWs (public centres for social welfare) which are associated with the municipality.  OCMWs are responsible, among other things, for providing affordable housing and sufficient means of existence to people with financial difficulties.

 

LANGUAGE FACILITIES: EXCEPTION


A special regulation applies in the municipalities with facilities. These municipalities are situated in a monolingual language area, but offer ‘facilities’ to foreign speaking inhabitants. Around Brussels there are six municipalities with facilities in the Dutch language area where facilities are provided to French-speaking residents. In Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel and Wezembeek-Oppem residents may ask to receive a specific document in French. These municipalities are not bilingual like the municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region. Here, official messages and communications must be both in Dutch and French, whereas individual communication normally takes place in Dutch. However, exceptionally this is also allowed in French.
From the very start there has been disagreement about the idea behind the facilities. French-speaking politicians consider them to be permanent language rights. To Flemish politicians, these facilities are a temporary privilege for newcomers from another language area who do not yet master the language. The legislation itself continues to be vague about the objectives. As a result, opposite interpretations continue to exist. This regulation is partially responsible for attracting a large number of French speakers (and foreign speakers) who want to come and live in the green Vlaamse Rand, close to Brussels. Meanwhile, the balance between the languages in these municipalities has shifted. The majority of the people living there are French speakers or foreign speakers who have not adapted to the Dutch-language character of the region. This leads to political discussions about the language status of these six municipalities.

 

ANNOYANCE

Some people show displeasure or incomprehension about the language rules used by municipal civil servants in the Vlaamse Rand.Why do these civil servants not simply speak French or English?Is it not so that most Flemish civil servants master these languages?Yet, the principle of the ‘language of that area being the language of administration’ is accepted almost everywhere in the world. No French or English is spoken in the Spanish town halls either. In the Swiss city of Geneva you will only be addressed in French, although, like Brussels, the city houses a lot of international organisations (UN, WHO, UNAIDS, WTO). No Dutch is spoken in the French language area in Belgium either.
The fact is that due to the strong Frenchification and internationalisation, Flanders is forced to take measures to safeguard the Dutch-language character. Brussels, for instance, which used to be a Flemish city, has Frenchified in a few decades. The Vlaamse Rand around Brussels as well is under strong pressure from languages other than Dutch. For this reason the Flemish authorities want the language laws to be applied in a correct and strict manner. According to Flemish politicians, this legislation was already abused too often in the past by people who did not speak Dutch and were not at all willing to learn it.
On the other hand, the Flemish authorities do invest heavily in free Dutch courses for foreign speakers so as to give them maximum opportunities for integration and on the labour market.
Finally, a lot of Flemish people are annoyed about the one-sided character of this debate. Dutch speakers who move to the French language area of Belgium often do not have any problems to learn French and use it in their contacts with the local authorities. The massive migration of Flemish people to the rich industrial Wallonia of the 19th and early 20th centuries did not lead to any Dutchification or Flemishification there.


OTHER AUTHORITIES

 

Overheid en taal tabel

Mama, ik versta die soep niet

10 QUESTIONS

 

  1. Which language is spoken in Belgium?
  2. In which language can I contact the authorities?
  3. Which language is taught at school?
  4. What language is spoken in companies and hospitals?
  5. How can I keep abreast of current events in Belgium?
  6. Why is Belgium not just bilingual?
  7. Why do the Flemish people hold so strongly to the monolingualism in the Vlaamse Rand?
  8. Why do the municipalities in the Vlaamse Rand around Brussels continue to be Flemish, even when they are inhabited by a majority of foreign speakers?
  9. Why is Brussels bilingual when only a minority of Dutch speakers live there?
  10. Why does Flanders refuse to ratify the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities?