page_title: Wezembeek-Oppem
section_title: Language controversies
hierarchical_section_title: Wezembeek-Oppem / Language controversies
caption_attribution_description: English: Wezembeek-Oppem Gemeentehuis (town hall). Photograph taken by David Edgar on 30th July 2006.
context_page_description: Wezembeek-Oppem Dutch: is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, 10 kilometres east of the centre of Brussels. The municipality only comprises the town of Wezembeek-Oppem proper. On January 1, 2016, Wezembeek-Oppem had a total population of 14,095. The total area is 6.82 km² which gives a population density of 2,066 inhabitants per km².
  Wezembeek-Oppem is home to a large community of international expatriates, in part because of the presence of the Internationale Deutsche Schule Brüssel in Wezembeek-Oppem itself, and the British School of Brussels in nearby Tervuren.
context_section_description: Wezembeek-Oppem is one of the six municipalities with language facilities in the Flemish Region surrounding the Brussels-Capital Region. Wezembeek-Oppem is the only one of these that does not border Brussels directly since a narrow landstrip belonging to the municipality of Kraainem lies in between.
  When the last official language census was taken in 1947, just under 30% of the population in Wezembeek-Oppem had French as their mother tongue. In 1963, when the official language border was finalised in Belgium, the municipality was designed as officially Dutch-speaking, however with facilities for French-speakers. In 1993, when Belgium was turned into a federation, the municipality was included in the newly established Flemish Region.
  The official language is Dutch (as everywhere in Flanders), but the facility status means citizens have the right to request official documents from the local administration in French, may get primary school education in French as well as certain other public services.
caption: Wezembeek-Oppem town hall
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