Community associations and committees
The Brussels Region is officially bilingual because both French and Dutch speakers live there. On the territory of the Brussels Region, each community pursues its own policy on community competences (e.g. culture, education, healthcare, assistance). They have created three specific Brussels Community institutions for this purpose.
A word of explanation
Belgium is a federal state in which there are three Regions and three Communities in addition to the federal level.
- The three Regions in Belgium (Flanders, Walloon Region and Brussels-Capital Region) are competent for matters relating to territory (e.g. spatial planning, transport, environment...).
- The Communities in Belgium (Flemish Community, French Community and German-speaking Community) are responsible for rather person- and language-related matters (e.g. education, culture, health care, assistance).
However, two Communities operate on the territory of the Brussels Capital Region: the French Community and the Flemish Community. This called for specific Brussels 'community institutions'.
Three Community Commissions
To exercise community responsibilities at the Brussels-Capital Region, the following community commissions have been created:
- the French Community Commission (COCOF) is the competent authority for political initiatives relating to French Community matters;
- the Flemish Community Commission (VGC) is the competent authority for political initiatives relating to Flemish Community matters;
- the Common Community Commission (COCOM) is the competent authority for community matters not exclusively relating to one of the two communities.
