If the 85% to 90% covers people who _can_ speak French, rather than the 44% to 48% that _prefer_ to speak French, then these numbers might make sense. Where is the 'multilingual' column?

"Which city or region in the democratic world does not function this way?" Good question, but let's face the truth: despite the fact that Brussels houses the EU, it remains what it always has been: a small provincial town in a small (and what's more important) insignificant country that has made mediocrity its trademark. This is not a city with a worldwide appeal. Huffin' and puffin' like a frog trying to be an ox, yes, but virtually ignored by the rest of the world.

These numbers do not make any sense at all. "Lies, damn lies, and the creative use of statistics." The truth is that almost all the people described as "other" use French as their lingua franca and almost none of them Dutch.

In an ethnic conflict foreigners have no presence. This is a struggle between two 'indigenous' communities. But then again Brussels is historically 'Dutch speaking'...so French speakers wouldn't be indigenous :) (hows that for a provocation!)

Well that means that only 10% of the Belgian population are Dutch-speakers and 90% French-speakers. Moreover, cities do not belong to languages but to people. And they chose French rather than Dutch.

Case closed. You can go fight you "ethnic conflict" elsewhere.

@Melodius: I guess that you are right if you also count all the flemmings who can speak French ( or need to, to communicate with native French speakers ). The truth is that the native French speaking residents of Brussels NEED to count the immigrants from North Africa as being 'native' French speakers to 'justify' their claim that Brussels is a unilingual French-speaking city.

"...it is all but normal...", the article says. Shouldn't that have been "...it's only normal..."? The way it is said now, it conveys exactly the opposite of what is meant.

@Johan: In Dutch yes, but not in English.
(All but = nearly, almost, practically -- vrijwel, nagenoeg.... Not to be confused with "anything but", meaning "allesbehalve")..

Brussels has a lot of Dutch people during the working hours....but in the evening the city in 80% french speaking....

@ Pipermaru

And 60% of those 80% speak french in arabic.

¡Viva Bélgica Una, Grande y Libre!

Mr Neyts opinion is quite interesting. Let's adapt it to the situation in the Brussels suburbs.

To quote Mr Neyts "...it is all but normal that the Brussels Capital Region is bilingual (French/Dutch) for government services, health services, institutions and companies. Preferably multilingual, out of respect and politeness for immigrants and foreign visitors. Which city or region in the democratic world does not function this way? Only in Brussels it is possible that an arrogant French-speaking class imposes its language upon the population and the visitors, and constantly tries to humiliate people who do not speak French."

In the Brussels suburbs this statement can be adapted as follows :

"it is all but normal that the Brussels capital region, including its suburbs, be bilingual (French/Dutch) for government services, health services, institutions and companies. Preferably multilingual, out of respect and politeness for immigrants and foreign visitors. Which city or region in the democratic world does not function this way? Only in the Brussels suburbs it is possible that an arrogant Dutch-speaking class imposes its language upon the population and the visitors, and constantly tries to humiliate people who do not speak Dutch"

where is democracy when the french speaking majority in the brussel's suburb is humiliated and can't speak and use french with administration etc?

Signs in french in the suburb are not allowed!

Man, zeik toch niet en leer Nederlands als je in Vlaanderen komt wonen.

Anders bol je het maar terug af over de taalgrens.

@ capitale,

What f.....g suburb? Those villages are independent villages and NOT "le très grand Bruxelles".
They were nice peaceful villages until your "Herrenvolk" came living there, now they are fighting for their independence from that cesspool you call "la capitale", yes "capitale de la merde" is more like it.

please do not forget Montreal in Canada. we the same problem.

Brussels is a French-speaking city. The fact is that the Dutch-speaking are feeling lonely in Brussels and try to dissolve the reality ... That's exactly what is TRYING to do Freddy Neyts ...

1) What's the point with commuters? Who cares about them? These people are not the inhabitants of Brussels and they do not pay taxes in Brussels ! The people paying (expensive) taxes because they live in the 19 communes of Brussels should be the only ones accounting as "bruxellois" and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of them speaks french. Commuters shouldn't have anything to say about Brussels, they just take advantage of the city without any contribution to it's maintenance.

2) Me Neyt should really consider the suburbs where arrogant and frustrated dutch speaking people do everything in their power to piss off the french speaking population.

3) Is it the french speaking people's fault if very little people on this planet want to speak dutch? It's not even a unified language! Dutch speaking people from Antwerpen or Hasselt don't even seem to understand each other... What's the point of this language in a context of global internationalisation ?

4) We are not going to remain passive in this. If the dutch speaking people of Belgium want separation, then the only right and democratic thing to do is a referendum in which the INHABITANTS of each commune of Belgium declares their language of choice... If the majority of the inhabitants of a commune declare they are french speaking, then that commune should be considered as such. If the majority of the inhabitants declare they are dutch speaking, then that commune should be considered as such.

I'm all in favor of a separation (Since my birth, for 35 years, I've been hearing about it and am growing tired of all the energy wasted in stupid talks !). If it has to be done, let's do it and stop wasting so much time, money and efforts. Let's have a referendum and let the people choose! That's the only democratic way of doing things.

@GeckoArt
Dutch speaking people from Antwerpen or Hasselt don't even seem to understand each other...

Stupid lies from a certified troll.
Do you even live here? It seems you are in some kind of parallel universe.

It's amazing how politicians can sell horsesh-t to a horse. I lived for 30 years in Brussels before relocating to the US in the fall of 2005. I confirm that Brussels is a French-speaking city. 90% seems to be absolutely correct. And I was an English and Dutch high school teacher for 7 years, taught in 10 different schools in the public school system of Brussels, so I know the question very well. I wish more than 10% of the kids I taught could ANY speak Dutch (it would have made my job easier), but the reality was that very few people in Brussels have Dutch as their mother tongue.

Brussels speaks Bureaucratese, Moroccan Arabic, Dutch, English and various pidgins that pass for French. I am a native speaker of French and I can tell you people that what is spoken in Brussels is not real French. Case closed.

Is dutch different from flemish? I don't get it. I've been to Brussels, no doubt the inhabitants speak french.

Flemish-dutch and Hollandish-dutch are both Dutch and relate to each other like British English and American English.