Brussels' official languages are Dutch and French, putting them on paper on equal footing as administrative languages. However, this is far from the case.
Belgium's current language law, which dates back to 1966 and regulates language use in administrative matters, states that the Capital Region's official languages are Dutch and French. All Brussels administrations should communicate and offer services in both languages.
However, in practice, the French language has a strong dominance, at the expense of the Dutch. This is confirmed in figures requested by Federal MP François De Smet (Défi) reported on by La Libre. The Brussels party is a new iteration of a party founded to defend the interests of Francophones in the 1960s, set up in response to the 1962 law which set official languages per region in Belgium.
The results show that 91.7% of 2023 tax returns were filed in French, with the remaining 8.3% in Dutch. These figures have remained stable over time. Similarly, 93% of new pensioners in Brussels were identified as French-speaking in 2023, while just 7% are Dutch-speaking.
"The results are clear and show that the French-speaking presence has stabilised, or even increased," said De Smet. He argued that it is well-known that French is a sort of lingua franca in Brussels. "Some people speak neither French nor Dutch properly, but will use French, which is by far the dominant language in the capital."
Reflecting reality?
The parliamentary responses are representative of reality, professor and specialist in Brussels demography, Patrick Deboosere (VUB), said. For several years now, the presumption has been that Dutch speakers make up 10% of the population, but in the absence of a census, "it is very difficult to put an exact figure on it".
He explained that it is difficult to base the number of Dutch speakers on these figures. For example, some bilingual couples may be submitting a joint tax return only in French. A growing number of people do not speak either French or Dutch and, but file their returns in French.
The latest VUB language barometer showed the knowledge of both French and Dutch is declining in Brussels, while the use of English is rising. This is believed to be the result of multilingualism.
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Nevertheless, 17% of voters in the June Brussels regional elections – when people could choose what language to vote in – voted for a Dutch-speaking party, a percentage well above the presumed of Dutch speakers.
Deboosere confirmed the theory that many French speakers voted for one list in particular: Team Fouad Ahidar. However, another influencing factor is that several people who speak both languages in Brussels "find political orientation more important than language politics".
