Chamber gives green light for new regulation on language role of Brussels prosecutor

The linguistic role of the Brussels prosecutor was part of the political agreement on the division of the judicial district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. Since then, the Brussels public prosecutor and the labor prosecutor have had a French-speaking diploma, although they must be able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of Dutch. The reverse applies to their deputies.

In 2014, the Constitutional Court annulled that arrangement, because Brussels is a bilingual area. Since then, the problem has persisted, and for about three years there has only been an interim attorney.

After it emerged in October that the Brussels public prosecutor’s office had failed to handle the case of the perpetrator of the attack on Swedish football supporters in Brussels, the federal government agreed on a solution.

Functional knowledge

Minister of Justice Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) incorporated the scheme into a bill, which was given the green light in Parliament on Wednesday. From now on, both Dutch and French speakers will be eligible to work as a public prosecutor or labor prosecutor in Brussels. A “functional knowledge” of the other language is sufficient.

There will be a language alternative for both roles: after a French-speaking one, there must be a Dutch-speaking one, and vice versa. Of the two deputies of the public prosecutor and that of the labor prosecutor, one must be French-speaking and the other must belong to the language role other than the public prosecutor or the labor prosecutor. They must also have a functional command of the other language.

The next public prosecutor will be French-speaking, the labor prosecutor will be Dutch-speaking.