Community Commissions in the Region of Brussels-Capital (Belgium)

See also:

• Belgium
• Region of Brussels Capital
• Belgium: Flanders
• Belgium: Wallonia
• French Community in Belgium
• Brussels

French Community Commission of the Region of Brussels-Capital (Commission Communautaire Française de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Cocof)

Flag of the French Community Commission of the Region of Brussels-Capital - Image by Geraard van der Vaart, 10 June 2001

The Commission (locally known as "Cocof") is prescribed in Article 60 the "Special Law on the Brussels Institutions, adopted on 12 January 1989; its composition and competences are detailed in subsequent articles of the law.
The tutorship exerted by the French Community on the Cocof was prescribed by a Decree of the French Community adopted on 18 June 1990 and published on 30 June 1990 in the Belgian official gazette.
A Decree adopted by the French Community on 5 July 1993 and published on 10 September 1993 in the Belgian official gazette transfered several competences from the French Community to either the Walloon Region or the Cocof, therefore lifting the tutorship exerted until then by the French Community on the Cocof. The Decree was completed by another Decree, adopted by the French Community on 22 July 1993 and published on 10 September 1993 in the Belgian official gazette, specifically addressing competence transfer to the Cocof.

According to Michel Lupant [lup98], the arms, flag and seal of the Cocof were adopted on 30 June 1992.
The flag, in proportions 2:3, is quarterly divided:
- 1-4: Emblem of the French Community (red roaster on yellow)
- 2-3: Emblem of the Region of Brussels-Capital (yellow iris with a white border on blue).

Ivan Sache, 10 June 2001

The article Un drapeau pour la Commission communautaire française. Le coq et l'iris pavoisent côte à côte (A flag for the French Community Commission. The roaster and the iris fly side by side), published by Daniel Couvreur in Le Soir, 8 July 1992, gives a quite ironic presentation of the flag.

The Cocof uses a banner of its arms, "Quarterly the Walloon "coq hardi" gules the Brussels iris flower or" (website), and a seal, showing only the "coq hardi".
The author of the article speaks of a zinneke flag. In Brussels language, zinneke meant either the Little Senne, that is the derivation of the Senne river around the town, or a mongrel dog sometimes thrown away into the Senne; in its modern sense, zinneke means "with multiple origins", highlighting Brussels' cosmopolitanism. The Zinneke Parade, founded in 2000, when Brussels was one of the European Capitals of Culture, takes place every two years as a main cultural event in Greater Brussels.

The officials of the Cocof may also use a special Cocof flag, bordered with a blue-yellow-red fringe. This flag must have been modeled on the flag granted to the officials of the French Community, and must have the same square size.

The article finally quotes the representative Stéphane de Lobkowicz, who challenged Serge Moureaux, the President of the Cocof [from the institutions' foundation in 1989 to 1995], asking him: "What about this Higher Authority? Is it yourself, maybe? Do you want a flag of your own?".
A few lines before, the author of the article says that the Cocof needed to have a flag, following the example of the European, national, regional, municipal and community flags; he questions quite clearly, as did Lobkowicz, the need of yet another institution in Brussels.

Ivan Sache, 10 October 2010

Flemish Community Commission of the Region of Brussels-Capital (Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie van het Brusselse Hoofdstedelijk Gewest)

Flag of the Flemish Community Commission of the Region of Brussels-Capital
Left, Current, official flag - Image by Mark Sensen, 10 June 2001
Right, Former, unofficial flag - Image by Geraard van der Vaart, 10 June 2001

This Commisssion has the same status as the French Community Commission, in relation to the Flemish Community.
Its flag was adopted on 9 June 2000 (date of publication in the Belgian official gazette). Regulation 00/04 on the definition of the emblems belonging to the Flemish Community Commission prescribes the arms and the flag of the Commission, together with the rules of use of the flag, as follows:

Article 1. The arms of the Flemish Community Commission are made of a shield whose heraldic description is the following:
"Or a lion sable armed and langued gules a chief azure an iris or fimbriated argent".

Article 2. The flag of the Flemish Community Commission has the following heraldic description:
"Yellow with a black lion, armed and langued red, and a blue stripe having on top a yellow iris bordered white.

Article 3. On the buildings of the Flemish Community Commission, the flag of the Flemish Community Commission replaces the province flag, as prescribed in the relevant orders issued by the Flemish government.
On the buildings of the Flemish Community Commission, the flag of the Region of Brussels-Capital replaces the municipal flag, as prescribed in the relevant orders issued by the Flemish government.

Article 4. The flag is permanently hoisted over; the buildings of the Flemish Community Commission, the administrative buildings of the Flemish Community Commission and the buildings housing the Council's President and Vice President's staff and members of the Board of the Flemish Community Commission. Permanent hoisting means:
- the Flemish flag in the middle;
- the flag of the the Flemish Community Commission on its right;
- the flag of the Region of Brussels-Capital on its left.

Therefore the flag is a banner of the arms with the chief rotated along the hoist and the iris skewed to the top of the flag.

According to Michel Lupant [lup98], the former arms, flag and seal of the Commission were adopted on 4 December 1992.
The flag, in proportions 2:3, is white with the arms in the middle.
The arms are a square diamond horizontally divided yellow-black, charged with a white square diamond slightly rotated including a Flemish lion in grey dotted lines.
This early flag was not recognized either by the Flemish Heraldic Council or the Flemish Minister responsible for Brussels.

In the weekly Brussel deze week, 7 June 2000, the noted journalist Johan Anthierens (1937-2000) once called the animal on this version "a lion in the mist", perhaps referring to "Gorillas in the mist" (film, 1988). It was not a flattering reference.

Mark Sensen, Ivan Sache, Jan Mertens & Pascal Vagnat, 15 March 2010

The Decree prescribing the arms and the flags of the provinces, municipalities and districts, and of the Flemish Community Commission was adopted by the Flemish Parliament on 18 April 2007, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 27 April 2007 and published on 2 July 2007 in the Belgian official gazette.
Below are the parts relevant for the Flemish Community Commission.

Article 1. The present Decree settles a Community issue.

Article 2.

§ 1.
Each province, each municipality and each district, as well as the Flemish Community Commission, shall have its own arms and its own flag.
§ 2.
The arms of the Flemish Community Commission shall be made of a shield.
[...]
§ 3.
The shield, including, if relevant, the outer ornaments, shall be put on the seal of the Flemish Community Commission, of the province, of the municipality and of the district.

Article 3.

[...]
§ 2.
The arms and the flag of the Flemish Community Commission, prescribed by Regulation of 9 June 2000 stating the definition on the emblems belonging to the Flemish Community Commission, shall keep force of law.
These arms and this flag can be superseded, only invoking new facts or reasons, by a Regulation of the Flemish Community Commission approved by the Flemish Government, according to the prescriptions of § 3 of Article 4.
[...]
§ 3.
Within three months after the receipt of the Regulation of the Flemish Community Commission, of the Decision of the Provincial Council, of the Decision of the Municipal Council, or of the Decision of the District Council, the Flemish Government, after advice of the Flemish Heraldic Council, especially of the Heraldry Division of the Royal Commission for Monuments and Sites, shall take a Decision approving this Regulation of this Decision, or shall send to the Flemish Community Commission, to the province, to the municipality or to the district a justified request to revise the Regulation or the Decision. The advice of the Flemish Heraldic Council, especially of the Heraldry Division of the Royal Commission for Monuments and Sites, shall be attached to this request.
Within three months after the receipt of the revision request, the Flemish Community Commission, the Provincial Council, the Municipal Council or the District Council shall submit a new Regulation or a new Descision to the approval by the Flemish Government.

Article 4.

If, when the deadline prescribed by Article 3 expires, the Flemish Community Commission, a province, a municipality or a district has failed to submit a Regulation or a Decision, or, if relevant, a new Regulation or a new Decision, the Flemish Government shall automatically prescribe arms and a flag. The same holds if the Flemish Government does not approve the new Regulation or the new Decision as prescribed in Article 3, § 3, second Section.
[...]
§ 2.
The arms and the flag of the Flemish Community Commission, as well as the arms and the flags of provinces, municipalities and districts prescribed as stated in the present Decree, shall be modified and and prescribed again, only invoking new facts or new reasons, by a Regulation of the Flemish Community Commission or by a Decision of the Provincial Council or of the Municipal Council, approved by the Flemish Government, as prescribed in Article 3, § 3 and Article 4.

Article 6. The present Decree shall come into effect on 1 January 2007.

Ivan Sache, 19 June 2008