Law requiring Brussels civil servants to be bilingual largely ignored

The Brussels administrative language law, which regulates bilingualism requirements for civil servants, is still being widely flouted according to the new 2024 annual report by Brussels vice-governor Jozef Ostyn.

“The administrative language legislation remains the backbone and benchmark of Brussels‘ bilingualism,” Ostyn said.

“Overall, however, it can be concluded that compliance with this legislation remains highly problematic in Brussels’ local authorities and is even deteriorating in a number of important respects.

"All the authorities concerned will have to make stronger and more structural efforts to achieve full and correct application of the legislation."

Civil servants are required by law to have a certificate for another national language: Dutch-speakers must be able to demonstrate that they can speak French and vice versa (with some exceptions), but in most cases this certificate is missing.

When Brussels municipalities and public social welfare centres appoint a civil servant, they must send the file to the Brussels vice-governor who then must check compliance with language legislation.

A total of 3,639 cases in 2024 - ranging from permanent appointments and employment contracts of indefinite duration, to promotions and appointments of trainees - were sent to the vice-governor, who ordered 2,180 suspensions.

But not once did the vice-governor's recommendations for suspension lead to a decision being overturned, Bruzz reports.

The power to overturn a suspended decision lies with the bodies of the Brussels region and not with the vice-governor.

In 11 municipalities and 14 CPAS social welfare administrations, one language group now accounts for more than 75% of management positions. In six CPAS administrations, one language group is no longer represented at all in management positions.

The figures for 2024 are slightly less than in 2023, when there were 2,315 suspension decisions, but a sharp increase has been visible in recent years. In 2016, there were only 1,032 suspensions.

Last year also showed, as in previous years, a significant difference between statutory and contractual staff members: of statutory staff members, 67.5% of appointments were in accordance with the administrative language legislation compared with 7.9% for contractual staff members.

Ostyn noted in the report that only in two of the 19 municipalities (Auderghem and Berchem-Sainte-Agathe) and in nine of the 19 CPASs (Ganshoren and Anderlecht) are the management positions filled on a parity basis, with proportional representation in both language groups.

“The situation therefore continues to deteriorate in this area,” he wrote.

Photo: Hatim Kaghat/Belga