While community tension was palpable just a few years ago, other issues seem to have become more pressing. “Noise pollution caused by aircraft passing overhead is a real concern”.says Michel Piens, a retired bilingual native of Bruges. His children go to school in French in Wezenbeek-Oppem, but his grandchildren go to school in Dutch in Rhode.

Today,our children choose to send their children to school in Dutch,” adds Jean-Pierre Butaye, a bilingual local councillor (Les Engagés) in Wezenbeek-Oppem. This is a good thing. Did you know that in our municipality there are French-speaking members of the majority (LB-Union) who don’t understand what’s being said in Dutch? to the town council? It’s not right!”

According to Jean Hermesse, President of the CPAS Wezenbeek-Oppem, there are more and more bilingual and multilingual young people in the municipality. Clearly, mixing languages is less of a problem for young people than it was for their elders.

Frédéric Petit (LB-Union, MR), mayor of Wezenbeek-Oppem, acknowledges that in everyday life, there are few language problems between citizens in his municipality. The number of Dutch-French bilinguals in the municipality is growing. “In 2016, over 8,000 French-speaking residents requested their documents in French. Today, there are two thousand less, or about 6,000″.stresses the liberal.

But that doesn’t mean there’s no more community bitterness. Some language hassles are still very much with us. “The service that registers applicants for housing is only accessible in Dutch, even though 80% of applicants are not Dutch-speaking but… French-speaking“, points out Jean Hermesse.

“Pesterijen

According to Frédéric Petit, Flanders never misses an opportunity to restrict the rights of French speakers in communes with facilities. “The Flemish government forbids us to keep a language register. But we need it to register the desire of French speakers to receive their administrative documents in French. And the Conseil d’Etat agreed with us on this point. Flanders is nevertheless trying to restrict the scope of its ruling.”

Another example: justice. “Today, French-speaking residents of communes with facilities can go to court in Brussels. Flanders wants to abolish this hybrid system, reserved for facilities. The regionalization of justice is a priority for the current Flemish government. The justice of the peace in Kraainem has been abolished, so French-speakers in Kraainem now have to go to Rhode-Saint-Genèse.”

Rhode’s last Flemish café

The “ Ons Parochiehuis” tavern is a landmark for Rhode’s Dutch-speaking community, located a stone’s throw from the Sint-Genesius Church. Flemish is spoken here, of course. Every day, men, most of them alone, meet here. Beer, served by the keg, flows freely. In this “brown café”, tongues are quickly loosened. One man speaks to us in Dutch. “You know, we Flemings here ‘down under’ don’t exactly do what we want in Rhode. It’s those upstairs, you know, those who live in the Grande Espinette neighborhood, who say what we should do.”

Today, however, Rhode Island is also populated by Francophones. Dutch-speakers and French-speakers live side by side, and things are going well. Around 70% of Rhode Islanders vote for French-speaking parties. Is there still a language problem in this commune of just under 19,000 inhabitants? Burgomaster Pierre Rolin (Intérêts Communaux), a good bilingual, doesn’t see any more of this in the field. ” Sixty years after its introduction, the facilities system is proving to be a system that works well,” he says. It’s a question of good will.”

Invitations in French

From time to time, however, linguistic hassles return… “Forexample, last October, Ben Weyts (N-VA), the Flemish minister responsible for the Brussels periphery, set up a real estate information platform for Flanders,” explains Pierre Rolin. This platform enables notaries, as well as private individuals, to find out the urban planning status of any building. This is a real step forward in terms of administrative simplification. But the documents will be exclusively in… Dutch. To obtain these documents in French, you need to contact the commune, which will translate the texts itself. This represents a huge additional workload for us.”

“If we have a community problem, it always comes from outside,” continues the mayor of Rhode-Saint-Genèse. “Following a complaint from an N-VA elected representative, the governor of Flemish Brabant ,
Jan Spooren (N-VA), recently banned the use of our new logo, which had been approved by the local councils.
. The governor considers him too… bilingual. The French-speaking part of the logo would be too visible.”

The mayor, a legalist, reassures us. “On the merits, we still win. The N-VA is well aware of this, but as far as they’re concerned, these are communication operations. What interests the nationalists is the symbolism.he notes. And to conclude: “At election time, some will wash whiter than white. Residents who have requested it in advance will receive their invitation to the June 9 elections in French. We will apply the Conseil d’Etat ruling to the letter. In Rhode, French and Dutch speakers are on the same footing”.

The same is true of Linkebeek, the neighboring commune of Rhode-Saint-Genèse, which has a population of less than 5,000, 85% of whom are French-speaking. Alderman Benjamin Daro (Les Engagés) believes that, as the elections approach, things are calming down… out of necessity. “Besides, the Linkebeek guerrillas are far behind us, and the entente is cordial now”, he says.

Regional hassles? Yes, there are still some. “The example of the introduction of the Omgevingsloket (Environment Window), a supposedly bilingual platform, is pertinent. In practice, however, this platform only operates in Dutch, and has only been partially translated into French. This is unacceptable,“The alderman in charge of the environment in Linkebeek points out. “This proves to me that, in their vision, the facilities are not destined to last,” fears Mr. Daro.