A complaint against a Belgian ticket inspector who gave passengers a bilingual greeting in Dutch-speaking Flanders has been upheld, shedding light on the country’s strict language laws.
The conductor, Ilyass Alba, said Belgium’s Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control had upheld a complaint made by a commuter in 2024. The passenger had objected to Alba’s use of the French word “bonjour” while the train was in Dutch-speaking Flanders.
Alba said he had greeted the carriage with “Goeiedag, bonjour” (good day in Dutch and French), as the train approached Vilvoorde (Vilvorde), near the outskirts of Brussels, which is officially bilingual.
The commission upheld the passenger’s complaint that Alba should not have used French in the Dutch-speaking part of the country, unless approached by a passenger speaking French.
“What a country!” Alba wrote on Facebook. He said he understood why a passenger concerned to protect his mother tongue would file such a complaint, but “that the commission would rule in his favour when travellers from all over the world visit Belgium is a sign of narrow-mindedness on the part of a small Flemish elite.”
For its part, the commission, which was created in 1966 to police Belgium’s language rules, said it was upholding the law and only the legislature could make changes.
Under Belgium’s strict language rules, conductors on the national rail service SNCB (NMBS in Dutch) should only use Dutch in Flanders, French in the southern-speaking Francophone region, and both languages in bilingual Brussels. The rule applies to passenger announcements and onboard electronic screens.
Local media reported that the decision would not have any consequences for Alba, beyond perhaps a warning, which equally applied to his employer. The rail operator has played down the incident, saying that its employee had wanted “to warmly greet all passengers, something to which we attach great importance”.
When the case came to public attention, Belgium’s then transport minister, Georges Gilkinet, said the “strict blind application of the rules” made little sense, blaming the far-right Vlaams Belang and nationalist New Flemish Alliance parties for their continuation.
But even politicians from non-separatist Flemish parties have spoken in favour of the rules.
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Belgium’s Francophone public broadcaster RTBF said the rules “may seem absurd” but reflected “linguistic tensions that transcend numerous debates in our country. The softening of these rules does not seem to be on the agenda.”
The conductor, who has started selling mugs with the greeting “Goeiedag, Bonjour”, said he had received many messages of support from Dutch speakers. While saying he was not calling for changes to the 1966 language law, he called for greater flexibility. “Whatever will be, long live Belgium,” he said.