Didier Dekimpe, a baker and pastry chef who has worked for nearly 20 years in the Flemish municipality of Tervuren, was presented with an official letter from the governor of the province of Flemish Brabant, Jan Spooren (N-VA).
The reason ? The use of the French language in his establishment.
A denunciation would be the origin of the reprimand. A client, “outraged”, would not have appreciated the staff speaking to him in French. The governor considers it “a pity” that companies “neglect Dutch in their contacts with customers” in a Dutch-speaking municipality. Jan Spooren believes that this negligence could lead to “resentment” on the part of the inhabitants and complicate integration.
“If I lived in China, I would learn Chinese”
Living in Tervuren himself, Prince Laurent reacted to our colleagues: “If I lived in China, I would learn Chinese”, he claims.
He recognizes, however, that “the Flemish obsession with the language is unfair” but, that on the French-speaking side, “not learning the most spoken language in Belgium is not fair either”, he believes. “These stories annoy me, actually. Everyone has to make an effort,” he concludes.