Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – “The services and institutions of the federal government must use the name French Community in their documents and communications, and not the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation.” Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) answered MP Werner Somers (Vlaams Belang) during a written question about the official use of the French Community name in government institutions.
“The services and institutions of the federal government must use the name French Community in their documents and communications, and not the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation.”
This statement was made by Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) in response to a written question from MP Werner Somers (Vlaams Belang). The Prime Minister emphasised that only the constitutionally recognised term “French Community” should be used in official federal communications, rejecting the alternative designation “Wallonia-Brussels Federation.”
“To wrongly give the impression that the Brussels-Capital Region and the Walloon Region are one entity, and that Brussels is therefore a unilingual French-speaking entity”.
“That name has an anti-Flemish reason, and has no place in the government’s communication,”
The Vlaams Belang MP believes.
“According to the Constitution, Belgium comprises three communities and three regions, and the so-called Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles is not one of them.”
What is the history behind the naming dispute of the French community?
Belgium has experienced several decades of political effects due to its established linguistic and regional partitions. Belgium exists under a constitutional framework that distinguishes its three linguistic communities along with its three political regions, which include Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels-Capital.
The French Community achieved its foundation in 1970 through Belgium’s federalization procedures to oversee educational matters along with cultural functions and language management in French-speaking regions of the country. However, in 2011, French-speaking politicians rebranded it as the “Wallonia-Brussels Federation” (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles) to emphasise ties between Wallonia and Brussels, where French is the majority language.
Flemish politicians strongly oppose the new name for Brussels because they believe it creates the false perception that the city is exclusively French when it has a Dutch-French bilingual status. The population data from 2023 indicates that French speakers maintain an 85% majority throughout Brussels, while Dutch speakers constitute a minor 5-10% streak.
The Dutch-speaking territory of Flanders interprets this name modification as a politically motivated attempt that threatens speaking rights in their area. The Flemish government and nationalist parties like N-VA and Vlaams Belang insist on using only the constitutional term “French Community” in federal communications.
Despite objections, the “Wallonia-Brussels Federation” remains widely used in French-speaking media, education (e.g., Wallonia-Brussels Education), and international forums.
Further debate intensifies because of sporadic federal government references to this expression. Recent instructions from Prime Minister De Wever support existing laws while highlighting continuing conflicts between federal systems in the Belgian state.
