Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde
One peculiarity remaining after the reform is that inhabitants of the six municipalities with language facilities around Brussels can still choose to vote for electoral lists of the Brussels-Capital Region.Consequently, French-speakers living in the officially monolingual Dutch-speaking electoral district of Leuven in Flanders could vote for French-language parties in BHV, and Dutch-speakers living in the officially monolingual French-speaking electoral district Nivelles in Walloon Brabant could vote for Dutch-language parties in BHV.The Brussels judicial and electoral arrondissement, corresponding to what became later Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, has existed since the Belgian Revolution in 1830, when the country was created as a unitary state.At that time, French was the only language in politics, administration, justice, the army and all education except primary, to the disadvantage of Dutch speakers.[2] A municipality could ask the government to change its linguistic status by a royal decree only after a census would have shown a passage over the 30% or 50% threshold.However, the process of deciding on the geographical position of such a static linguistic border led to bitter resentment, by both communities, including within political parties which had transcended language cleavages until then.(Arguing that since 1947 many more people had shifted from Dutch to French, French-speaking Members of Parliament demanded that those six municipalities to be detached from the Dutch-speaking area and added to bilingual Brussels, which was fiercely resisted by their Flemish counterparts.)The 1970 State reform also created the Dutch, French and German Cultural Communities and laid the foundations for the establishment of three Regions.Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court, after having remained unsolved after decades, the BHV issue was suddenly a hot topic.The arrondissement consists of the following municipalities (in total accounting for around 1,595,000 inhabitants on 1 January 2006):[11] (names are written in respectively French and Dutch) Many legal experts in Flanders, such as Paul Van Orshoven [nl] and Matthias Storme, argue that there is no way out, other than splitting BHV, that will respect the entire Belgian constitution.'Beci', a Brussels-based employers organisation with 90% membership of French-speaking businessmen, explicitly states it respects all the existing institutions, including the boundaries between the language areas.Regular supra-national recommendations from the Council of Europe,[13] a body without direct authority and therefore a lesser status in the legal order in Belgium, expressed concerns in 2002 that the minority of French speakers in Flanders should be recognized and protected as an official linguistic minority, as defined by advise of the Venice Commission.However, other reports from this institution provide arguments to the contrary (e.g. the fact that the francophones in Flanders cannot be regarded as looking back on longstanding and peaceful relations with the Flemish authorities).Flemish authorities have stated that the recommendations from the Council of Europe are invalid as they did not take into account the Belgian constitution or the European jurisprudence, which confirms a very limited definition of the 'language facilities'.A compromise worked out by Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt was explicitly opposed by only one coalition partner, namely the Flemish party Spirit.After visiting King Albert II to report the failure of the seven negotiation meetings to reach a successful conclusion, the Prime Minister requested a vote of confidence from the parliament.Every step in the Belgian debate can be interpreted symbolically as a fight between two cultures that might show mutual respect only when they can be protected from each other's domination.[17] The newly appointed Flemish President of the Constitutional Court Marc Bossuyt has stated that federal elections (after 2007) would be deemed "unconstitutional" if a legal arrangement for Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde were not put into place by then.N-VA, the winner and now largest party of Flanders and Belgium, want to split BHV without concessions for French speakers.[28] Inhabitants living in Halle-Vilvoorde, whether French-speaking or Dutch speaking, lost the possibility to vote for politicians from Brussels during the federal elections.[28] According to Glenn Audenaert [nl], the head of the federal judicial police, splitting BHV could have negative effects for the safety in the area, since criminals based in Brussels (an officially bilingual but mostly French-speaking city) often act in the Dutch-speaking area around it and would have to be judged in Dutch-speaking courts of the Flemish Region.[29] There has been criticism of the agreement, for example a Brussels lawyer noting that it is startlingly complex, difficult to accomplish and very disadvantageous to Flanders.
Flemish BrabantBrussels-Capital RegionArrondissement of LeuvenArrondissement of Halle-Vilvoordemunicipalities with language facilitiesFrench-speaking BelgiansFrencharrondissement of Brussels-CapitalHalle-Vilvoordelanguage rightstribunal of first instancesixth Belgian state reformBelgian provinces2007–2011 Belgian political crisisFlemingsLeuvenNivellesWalloon BrabantCourt of Arbitrationvoting rightsState reform in BelgiumBelgian Revolutionunitary stateBrabantarrondissement of Brusselsfederal stateRekkemLefèvreVoeren/FouronsFédéralistes Démocrates Francophonesprovince of Brabantadministrative arrondissement of Leuvenadministrative arrondissement of NivellesBrussels-Capitalelections in 2003Arbitration CourtConstitutional Court of BelgiumunconstitutionalEuropean electionsde factoFlemingWalloon RegionFlemish RegionBrussels RegionFlemish Parliament in 2004Christian Democratic and FlemishFlemish Liberals and DemocratsDifferent Socialist PartyNew Flemish AllianceSpiritSenateEuropean ParliamentDutch-speaking electoral collegeFrench-speaking electoral collegeChamberFlemish Communityspecial-facility communesmunicipality with language facilitiesLaw Courts of BrusselsAffligemBeerselDilbeekDrogenbosGalmaardenGrimbergenHoeilaartKampenhoutKapelle-op-den-BosKraainemLennikLiedekerkeLinkebeekLonderzeelMachelenMerchtemOpwijkOverijsePepingenRoosdaalSint-Genesius-RodeSint-Pieters-LeeuwSteenokkerzeelTernatVilvoordeWemmelWezembeek-OppemZaventemAnderlechtBrussels (municipality)Ixelles / ElseneEtterbeekGanshorenKoekelbergAuderghem / OudergemSchaerbeek / SchaarbeekBerchem-Sainte-Agathe / Sint-Agatha-BerchemSaint-Gilles / Sint-GillisMolenbeek-Saint-Jean / Sint-Jans-MolenbeekSaint-Josse-ten-Noode / Sint-Joost-ten-NodeWoluwe-Saint-Lambert / Sint-Lambrechts-WoluweWoluwe-Saint-Pierre / Sint-Pieters-WoluweUccle / UkkelForest / VorstWatermael-Boitsfort / Watermaal-BosvoordeMatthias StormeEuropean UnionFramework Convention for the Protection of National MinoritiesPhilippe Van ParijsDe StandaardLe SoirmunicipalitiesCouncil of EuropeVenice CommissionFrancization of Brusselscabinet ministersGuy VerhofstadtKing Albert IIvote of confidencegeneral electionelections of 10 June 2007Katholieke Universiteit Leuven2007–2008 Belgian government formationCommittee on the Interior of the Chamber of RepresentativesBelgian historyGroen!Leterme I Government