Voeren

From Free net encyclopedia

Voeren (French: Fourons) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1 2005 Voeren had a total population of 4,238. The total area is 50.63 km² which gives a population density of 83.71 inhabitants per km².

1 Villages
2 Linguistic and political problems
3 Tourism
4 External links

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Villages

The municipality consists of the six villages: 's-Gravenvoeren (Fouron-le-Comte), Sint-Pieters-Voeren (Fouron-Saint-Pierre), Sint-Martens-Voeren (Fouron-Saint-Martin), Moelingen (Mouland), Teuven and Remersdaal (Remersdael). 's-Gravenvoeren is the most important and most populated town of the municipality

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Linguistic and political problems

Voeren was a part of the province of Liège from the French occupation (1794) until 1963 when it was transferred to the province of Limburg, and thus became part of Flanders.

Most people in Voeren speak a dialect related to Limburgian and it's thus related to Dutch. Voeren is economically dependent on the province of Liège so most people in Voeren received an education in Wallonia.

Until the beginning of the 20th century people generally didn't bother which administration Voeren came under. People in daily life spoke the local dialect. The government institutions used French and church and school used Dutch.

But some influential inhabitants such as the local priest Hendrik Veltmans argued that Voeren was culturally Flemish and actively tried to bring Voeren into Flanders.

In 1932 a census was held to determine the linguistic alignment of Voeren. Most people spoke Dutch and administrative changes were made. The linguistical struggle had begun. In 1947 another census was held and this time the French language was more popular. A decision was made to make Voeren like Brussels bilingual, with French as the dominant language.

In 1962 Belgium was working on a new linguistic law. The mayors of the villages in Voeren said that their villages were more Flemish than Walloon and a plan was devised to make Voeren a part of the province of Limburg. The Belgian parliament approved this plan and Voeren became a part of Flanders on September 1, 1963 as part of Limburg. Voeren remained bilingual with Dutch as a dominant language.

But most people didn't really want to join Limburg as the region is very dependent on Liège. Francophones in particular campaigned for the region to be returned to the province of Liège.

On January 1, 1977 the six small municipalities were merged to the present-day Voeren municipality. The Francophone and Flemish movements could organize themselves politically more effectively as there was now one instead of six municipal councils. This resulted in political and linguistic strife between the Francophone Retour à Liège (Return to Liège) party and the Flemish Voerbelangen (Voeren's Best Interests) party. The Retour à Liège faction won a majority in the new council. There were also action committees on both sides and gangs who daubed place-name signs and took part in violent demonstrations. The language struggle in Fourons became a national issue, and people from outside the region became involved.

The linguistic struggle came to a head when José Happart was put forward as mayor in 1983. For one thing, he was alleged to have supported the francophone gangs in Voeren. However the main problem was the constitutional question of whether someone who couldn't speak Dutch/Flemish could become mayor of a Flemish municipality. Happart was dismissed as mayor for refusing to take a Dutch language test, but appealed against his dismissal, and the question dragged on for years, ultimately causing the Belgian government to fall on October 19 1987.

In 1988 concessions to the Francophone inhabitants were made. The powers of the provincial government of Limburg were curtailed and more autonomy was given to the municipality. The government of Wallonia was allowed to build facilities for Francophones in Voeren.

In the 1994 municipal elections the Dutch speaking party (Voerbelangen) won a seat more than in earlier elections but was still a minority in the council. In 1995 mayor Happart was forced to leave office. Several national courts of arbitration declared some of the 1988 concessions unconstitutional (e.g. the Walloon building rights).

Around 20% of the population are non-Belgians, most are Dutch. EU nationals were given suffrage at the municipal level in 1999. This factor was decisive in the 2000 municipal elections: Voerbelangen won a majority. However, the new majority faced economic difficulties, since a lot of money had been spent by the previous administration. Selling several municipal properties like forests and goods was necessary to make the council economically viable. Starting 2003-2004 the council is viable again and new projects are being started to fulfill the promises made during the elections.

Though the violence of the 1970's and 1980's has subsided, some activists still daub graffiti on place-name signs.

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Tourism

Voeren is an attractive rural area of Belgium, with small villages set in rolling hills, traditional farmhouses, orchards, fields, woods and nature reserves. Hotel, camping and backpackers' hostel accommodation is available in the area. There are also quite a lot of village festivals, since Francophone and Flemish groups organise separate events.

Francophone and Flemish groups seem to agree that tourism will help to solve the Voeren linguistic problem as it helps the local economy and lessens the economic dependency on both Liège and Limburg.

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