Belgium's Constitutional Court has given the green light to the Wooncode, the housing code approved by the Flemish Parliament. The Woodcode requires renters of social housing to have a basic knowledge of the Flemish language or, as a minimum requirement, to attend free lessons provided by the Government.

The French-speaking community, which considers the measure discriminatory, had asked the Constitutional Court to review the Woodcode. Although the Court ruled that the housing code was not discriminatory, it did decree that knowledge of Flemish could not be a requirement in municipalities with "linguistic facilities" ("communes à facilités" in French, or "faciliteitengemeenten" in Dutch) where languages other than the dominant language are permitted. This affects several municipalities near Brussels in the Flemish-speaking zone which also use French for administrative purposes.

The controversy over the Woodcode goes back to 2006, when the Flemish Parliament decided to include linguistic criteria in the housing code. As De Redactie.be explains, the reason behind the language requirement is that an increasing number of renters lack basic knowledge of Flemish, causing communication difficulties.

Further information:

• DeRedactie.be: Flemish 'wooncode' survives test
• Le Soir.be: Feu vert au Wooncode

Further information in Flanders profile.