About
The Brussels Council for Multilingualism was established in September 2020 on the initiative of Sven Gatz, Brussels Minister for the Promotion of Multilingualism.
Mission
In consultation with the Minister, the Council draws up strategic guidelines and helps develop a sustainable policy on all matters relating the promotion of multilingualism. It does so by sharing with policy makers both existing expertise and new insights stemming from the experience of its members. It thereby ensures that attention is continually paid to the topic of multilingualism in the Brussels Capital Region.
The Council is committed to the central objective stated in the Minister's Vision Note: to promote, among the entire Brussels population, the ability to communicate in French, Dutch and English, while recognizing the importance and added value of learning and transmitting all the native languages spoken in our cosmopolitan capital city, and ensuring a good command of at least one of the school languages.
History
The Brussels Council for Multilingualism was created at the initiative of Sven Gatz, minister for the promotion of multilingualism, on behalf of the government of the Brussels Capital Region. It was inaugurated on 26 September 2020 on the occasion of the first Brussels Multilingualism Day, with Philippe Van Parijs (UCLouvain) as chair and Nadia Fadil (KU Leuven) as vice-chair.
It collaborated with the Minister for the organization of three subsequent Brussels Multilingualism Days and three calls for projects (education, business and culture), addressed a memorandum to the candidates at the June 2024 federal, regional and community elections, and coordinated, in February 2026, the first Brussels Multilingualism Week.
Since March 2026, it has been hosted by Laurent Hublet, Brussels minister for employment and the economy.
It was anticipated by the Marnix Plan for a Multilingual Brussels, a civil-society initiative launched in September 2013.
Composition
Council members are appointed by the Minister for a three-year term. They serve in a personal capacity, not as representatives of their organisations. The Council currently consists of:
- Pascale DE MEUE (CEPEONS)
- Laurence DE RUETTE (Institut st Boniface)
- Hilde DE SMEDT (Foyer vzw)
- Pascale FABRE (Bruxelles Formation)
- Thierry GEERTS (BECI)
- Salim HAOUACH (Ras El Hanout)
- Dirk JACOBS (ULB)
- Laurence METTEWIE (UNamur)
- Brigitte MYLE (VGC)
- Brigitte NEERVOORT (RABKO)
- Anne POSMA (Tracé Brussel vzw), vice-chair
- Mathis SAEYS (VUB)
- Anna SOLE MENA (European Commission)
- Leyla TIELEMANS (ULB)
- Wim VANDENBUSSCHE (VUB)
- Philippe VAN PARIJS (UCLouvain & KU Leuven), chair
- Piet VERVAECKE (OCB)
The Marnix Plan for a Multilingual Brussels
The Brussels Council for Multilingualism has a forerunner : the Marnix Plan for a Multilingual Brussels created in 2013 as a bottom-up civil-society initiative and coordinated by Alex Housen, Anna Sole-Mena (later replaced by Nell Foster) and Philippe Van Parijs.
The Marnix Plan organized many activities, including debates between political leaders before the regional elections of 2014, 2019 and 2024, but it has remained largely dormant since the Council took over most of its functions and enlisted several members of its core group.
Its trilingual website is still accessible, however, and contains a large number of answers to FAQs about multilingualism and a multilingual credo.