Boris Dilliès, who became regional PM of the Brussels-Capital Region last weekend, says he is already working on his Dutch, a language he apparently does not yet fully master despite it being the language of a majority of the people of Belgium. Mr Dilliès was speaking on the Francophone commercial TV channel RTL.
The Francophone liberal, who previously served as mayor of the Brussels municipality of Ukkel and is half French, admitted that it has been about 20 years since he last spoke Dutch. ‘I worked in the private sector for a number of years, at a Dutch company,’ he recalls.
That was at the Wolters Kluwer publishing house.
‘But for 20 years I didn't need it and so I didn't practise,’ he admits. ‘However, I completely agree that it's time to pick it up again,’ he added in the same breath.
‘After all, the Prime Minister of Brussels is the Prime Minister of all the inhabitants of Brussels, a bilingual region. So it's the least I can do.’ In fact, ‘I've already started,’ said Dilliès.