Multilingual Switzerland hopes to help Belgium heal language divide

Nabholz is presenting the Swiss model of linguistic harmony to the Belgian government Keystone Archive

As a country with four official languages, Switzerland is putting itself forward as a example to Belgium, which has long been riven by tensions between its French and Flemish communities. A Zurich parliamentarian has taken that message to Brussels.

Lili Nabholz is presenting the Swiss model of linguistic harmony to the Belgian government in a bid to quell friction between the country’s two linguistic groups.

She will have to tread carefully, though. Her predecessor, the Canton Graubünden parliamentarian, Dumeni Columberg, tried to convince the Belgians to follow the Swiss model during a similar trip three years ago, only to earn approbation for not paying enough attention to the specific nature of Belgium’s language divide.

Nabholz was being careful not to seem to take sides when she arrived in Brussels. She said all discussions would be in a neutral language – English – although she did express surprise that Belgium had not signed a “general” convention protecting the rights of national minorities.

A second trip to Brussels by Nabholz, who is also the Swiss envoy to the Council of Europe, is scheduled for September. She is expected to meet representatives from the Flemish community and will then have to give her opinion as to whether the French speakers are victims of “discrimination”.

Nearly 60 per cent of Belgians speak Flemish (which is closely related to Dutch) while around 40 per cent speak French. They are the country’s two official languages.

swissinfo with agencies