“Language Legislation and Road Signs: The Case of Luik vs. Liège in Flanders”

2023-05-23 16:13:33

The Flemish Minister for Mobility, the Open VLD Lydia Peeters reacted immediately after the publication of this information. She called her administration to order. There is no question for her that the road signs established in Flanders indicate “Liège” rather than “Luik”. The Minister justifies this position by the legislation on the use of languages. In Flanders, the official language is Dutch. “The linguistic law must be respected“, explained the minister. And the minister explained that this law specifies that the language used on a road sign is that of the place where the sign is located, not that of the destination. ‘indicate in parentheses the translation of the locality.

I therefore ask that the traffic signs in question, at the new Antwerp-West interchange, be adapted again in accordance with the language legislation. So it will be Luik and Namen again (Namur, NDLR)”, précise la ministre. Full stop.

As for the Flemish Roads and Traffic Agency, it was clarified during the afternoon that the famous regulation authorizing the indication, for example in French, of the name of a Walloon city, dated from a previous legislature but that it had not yet been applied before the recent developments of the Antwerp ring road. It would therefore be logical that we are only now aware of its illegality.

Under the Minister’s injunction, the Flemish Roads and Traffic Agency will therefore have to reverse gear as quickly as possible to change the disputed signs.

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