A complaint was filed following an announcement made in French by a controller. Some passengers criticize him for not having done it in Dutch.
It was an announcement that ignited the powder. A «bonjour» launched by one of them on a train traveling in Flanders earned him a complaint from a Dutch-speaking traveler unhappy to hear him speaking French, an incident which ignited the political debate on Thursday.
As he greets travelers entering a car with an audible (and bilingual) «good morning/bonjour»this French-speaking controller is corrected by one of them. “We’re not in Brussels yet, you just have to use Dutch!”tells this Dutch speaker. Revealed on Wednesday by two media outlets, the filing of the complaint was confirmed to AFP on Thursday by the body in charge, the Permanent Linguistic Control Commission (CPCL), responsible for monitoring the use of languages in the administration. .
The incident took a political turn
In a Belgium divided between Wallons, in the French-speaking south, and Flemings, in the Dutch-speaking north – and where Brussels is the only bilingual region – the incident took a political turn and burst into the debates Thursday afternoon in the Chamber . Questioned by two Flemish deputies, the Minister of Mobility, the French-speaking ecologist Georges Gilkinet, defended the controller, Ilyass Alba, and called for “dusting off legislation from the last century”.
“Train attendants do their best to be at the service of travelers, whether they are daily users or tourists, Flemish in Wallonia, French-speaking in Flanders or foreigners. Using several languages to say hello doesn’t shock me”launched the minister, who has authority over SNCB, the public operator of Belgian railways. He pointed out that in a small country like Belgium, regional borders were constantly crossed by trains.
The rule on the use of French and Dutch on Belgian trains is complex. In theory, controllers – called attendants in Belgium – must only use both languages in the territory of Brussels and in the few so-called municipalities. “facilities”where the administration is also bilingual. Elsewhere they must always express themselves in the language of the region where they are.
“We need respect for Dutch”
On the Flemish side, the president of the Christian Democratic Party (CD&V) Sammy Mahdi stepped up to the plate. “As a public authority, we cannot throw our language legislation overboard like that. We need respect for Dutch”he said. This earned irony from the minister for this party leader engaged for six months in difficult negotiations to form the future government. “I am surprised that some consider this to be the priority of the day when they also have a government to form”tackled Georges Gilkinet. “You are running behind your nationalist colleagues!”
For its part, SNCB considered that “it is the interest of the traveler that must take precedence”. “We need a little more flexibility in the application of the regulations”one of the company’s spokespersons told AFP. “Saying hello in several languages is just nice, we can only thank our guides for that”he continued. The CPCL, having received the complaint, will “ask SNCB for additional information on its application of the rules”declared one of the commission’s lawyers. It has 180 days to issue an opinion, which is non-binding.
