Brussels looking at making English an official language for the city, despite Brexit

Politician says current system where French and Dutch are main languages ‘is not very future proof’, Zoe Tidman reports

English is the most popular working language inside Brussels’ EU institutions (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

English could become one of the official languages of Brussels, a minister for the city’s government has suggested despite the UK’s exit from the EU.

Sven Gatz said the communication challenges faced by Belgium as it tackled coronavirus pandemic have created a space to discuss multilingualism in the country, where Dutch, French and German are all official languages.

“Hiccups” in the country’s Covid-19 response have sparked the “first movements” to redefine its language system, he told The Brussels Times. 

“I think that this has presented an opportunity to discuss multilingualism in the country and that these discussions should include a modernisation of the law to consider English as one of the main languages in Brussels,” Mr Gatz, the minister for promotion of multilingualism in the capital’s government, said.

On its website, the Belgian government says the country “sits across the fault line that separates German and Latin cultures”, which explains why Dutch, French and German are all official languages.

In Brussels, French and Dutch are the two official languages, as prescribed by law, but many living in the culturally diverse city increasingly use English.

Brussels is also the de facto capital of the European Union, and inside the EU institutions English is the most popular working language – ahead of second-placed French.

English has further cemented its position since 2004 when many central and eastern European countries joined the bloc.

Brexit has had little effect on the language’s popularity, which transcends its links to Britain.

The rise of the English question in Brussels represents another dimension to Belgium’s language issue, which has raged since the country’s foundation and is still one of its most hotly debated political issues. The borders of the Brussels region are in part fixed where they are – tightly around the urban core – to prevent the spread of official bilingualism into the Dutch-speaking Flemish countryside.

Though officially Dutch-French bilingual, it is already easier to get by with English than Dutch in the shops and cafes of Brussels. The one enduring exception is in public services and official notices, which are mandated to offer both the main Belgian languages equally.

Mr Gatz has said it has become apparent this system is “not very future proof” and called for English to play an official central role in the city.

“I do think that here, we can show the way and can say that it is possible to work with these three languages,” the minister, who is also responsible for finance and budget in the city’s government, told the newspaper.

In a separate article in The Brussels Times, Robert Tyler, a political strategist in Brussels, said it is “hard to ignore the increased use of English on a daily basis” in the Belgian capital.

“Where I live in the European Quarter, before I even open my mouth at a cafe, shop, restaurant or pharmacist I’ve been addressed in English,” he wrote.

He claimed “many lobbying firms, NGOs and international companies” are also using English as the main language in the workplace.

Looking into languages used in Brussels, research in 2018 said English was the second most well-known language in the city after French.

“Continuing to be a language spoken at school, English has slightly gained some ground as the second language used by families, it is still highly valued on the labour market, just like Dutch, and is the most popular language among the younger generation,” Rudi Janssens, the study’s author, wrote.

Meanwhile, “knowledge of Dutch has consistently declined” over the past two decades, he said.

Around one third of the capital’s population speak English, the survey of around 2,500 inhabitants by BRIO – a Brussels research centre – found.

The European Parliament – which sits in Brussels – has said Brexit has not resulted in English being scrapped as an official language.

“All EU governments would need to decide on that unanimously and as English is also an official language in Ireland and Malta, that possibility seems remote,” it says on its website.