Francization of Brussels

The Francization of Brussels refers to the evolution, over the past two centuries, of this historically Dutch-speaking city into one where French has become the majority language and lingua franca. The main cause of this transition was the rapid, compulsory assimilation of the Flemish population, amplified by immigration from France and Wallonia.

The rise of French in public life gradually began by the end of the 18th century, quickly accelerating as the new capital saw a major increase in population following Belgian independence. Dutch — of which standardization in Belgium was still very weak — could not compete with French, which was the exclusive language of the judiciary, the administration, the army, education, high culture and the media. The value and prestige of the French language was so universally acknowledged that after 1880, and more particularly after the turn of the century, proficiency in French among Dutch-speakers increased spectacularly.

Although the majority of the population remained bilingual until the second half of the 20th century, the original Brabantian dialect was often no longer passed on from one generation to another, leading to an increase of monolingual French-speakers from 1910 onwards. This language shift weakened after the 1960s, as the language border was fixed, the status of Dutch as an official language was confirmed, and the economic center of gravity shifted northward to Flanders.

However, with the continuing arrival of immigrants (most either from French-speaking countries or more familiar with French) and the post-war emergence of Brussels as a center of international politics, the relative position of Dutch continued to decline. Simultaneously, as Brussels' urban area expanded, a further number of Dutch-speaking municipalities in the Brussels periphery also became predominantly French-speaking. This phenomenon of expanding Francization (dubbed the "oil slick" by its opponents), remains, together with the future of Brussels, one of the most controversial topics in Belgian politics and public discourse.