Need for a just democratic status for the French-speaking population living in the Brussels periphery

Motion for a Resolution

Doc. 7878

7 July 1997

presented by Mr Georges Clerfayt, Armand de Decker and others

1. In Belgium, in the Brussels periphery, ie in the "Flemish Region", there is a French-speaking population which is denied a just democratic status. It is made up of approximately 120,000 Belgian citizens, concentrated in some twenty municipalities. In six of these they form the majority of the population (between 50 and 85%) whereas in the others, they are in the minority (between 10 and 49%). This French-speaking minority in the Flemish Region warrants particular attention since it is not officially recognised and is subject to discrimination by the political authorities of both the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community.

2. The problem has arisen because the boundaries of the bilingual region of Brussels were not drawn up democratically (eg by consulting the inhabitants of the municipalities concerned) and took no account of the socio-cultural and economic situation. The Brussels Region was set up in 1989 and delimited simply by using the existing administrative boundaries which had become obsolete as a result of the transformations which had occurred in the meantime. As early as 1963 these administrative boundaries had been drawn up as "linguistic borders", an inappropriate term since these boundaries, drawn up when Belgium was still a unitary and bilingual state, were not intended as a means of recognising any degree of autonomy for political entities.

3. As a result of the poorly defined boundaries between the bilingual region of Brussels and the Dutch-speaking region, 120,000 French-speaking people living in the Brussels suburbs found themselves in the Flemish Region which in 1993 became one of the federal entities. The fact is that this region has become increasingly monolingual as a result of the "principle of territoriality" applied by the Flemish political classes, which they interpret as demanding complete cultural and linguistic homogeneity.

4. With the exception of six municipalities granted a special linguistic status, designated as municipalities with certain provisions for the French-speaking population, the French-speaking inhabitants in these twenty or so municipalities of the Brussels periphery are by law deemed non-existent as francophones. In other words, their cultural and linguistic identity is not recognised; consequently, they have no cultural and linguistic rights:

• no documents (identity card, passport) or administrative forms are permitted in French for entries in the civil register, taxes, or indeed any matter. This applies at municipal, provincial and regional administrative level and, additionally, at the level of the federal state;
• no employee of the administration will speak to them in French or make any attempt to understand them if they speak in French;
• they do not have the right to use French in the courts and in any judicial proceedings, except in very limited cases;
• there may be no public notices in French (signs of any description including street signs);
• there is no education in French for their children;
• there is no right to premises, municipal facilities or financial subsidies for their cultural, sport, youth or other activities for publishing a cultural and political newsletter;
• they have no right to receive on cable TV certain French-language channels, such as TV5, T�le-Bruxelles, Canal+, Eurosport 21, Club RTL, etc;
• they have no access to social housing administered by the local authorities since such housing is reserved for Dutch-speaking inhabitants;
• the government of the Flemish Region refuses to allow the government of the French Community of Belgium to grant subsidies to French-speaking cultural associations in the Brussels periphery or to finance their cultural newsletter, etc.

5. Admittedly, the regime for the French-speaking inhabitants of the six municipalities with special provisions (around 40-45,000 out of a total of 120,000) presents a slightly lower level of interference with fundamental freedoms because of the arrangements introduced in 1963 at the time of the arbitrary delimitation of the linguistic borders and because the municipality is administered by a French-speaking political majority. Nevertheless, all the municipality's administration (files, etc) must be carried out exclusively in Dutch and the elected representatives are unable to speak in French at the municipal council since if they do, even if only a single sentence, the decisions taken are declared void on grounds of "procedural irregularity", ie because the proceedings were not conducted exclusively in the language of the Region, ie Dutch, the only official language.

6. Today, the majority of Flemish political parties challenge this regime of special provisions, already inadequate in terms of equal rights for all the citizens of the same country, and have openly declared their intention to do away with it.

7. On 26 June 1996, the government of the Flemish Region adopted a policy declaration "for the preservation of the Flemish nature of the Brussels periphery" which contained a variety of practical measures aimed at reducing, or indeed eliminating totally the use of French on Flemish territory.

8. Regretting the fact that Belgium, under pressure from the Flemish authorities, has not yet signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Assembly considers that the question merits further consideration with a view to the preparation of a report which should address the issue of whether the application of this Convention in Belgium could help solve the problems referred to above, thereby giving the French-speaking population living in the Brussels periphery the democratic status which it appears to be denied at present.

Signed:

Clerfayt, Belgique, LDR

De Decker, Belgique, LDR

Aguiar, Portugal, PPE

Alexander, Royaume-Uni, GDE

Besostri, Italie, SOC

Bindig, Allemagne, SOC

Brasseur, Luxembourg, LDR

Columberg, Suisse, PPE

Durrieu, France, SOC

Fico, Slovaquie, SOC

Fogas, Slovaquie, SOC

Frey, Suisse, LDR

Frunda, Roumanie, PPE

Guirado, Espagne, SOC

Hagard, Su�de, GDE

Jansson, Finlande, LDR

Jaskiernia, Pologne, SOC

Jeambrun, France, LDR

Kirkhill, Royaume-Uni, SOC

Laasko, Finlande, GUE

Legendre, France, GDE

Lesein, France, LDR

Loutfi, Bulgarie, LDR

Mackie of Benshie, Royaume-Uni, LDR

McNamara, Royaume-Uni, SOC

Meszaros, Hongrie, LDR

Mignon, France, GDE

Nastase, Roumanie, SOC

Roseta, Portugal, PPE

Schwimmer, Autriche, PPE

Sincai, Roumanie, SOC

Solonari, Moldava, SOC

Valleix, France, GDE

Varela, Espagne, LDR

Vrettos, Gr�ce, SOC