Wezembeek-Oppem

Wezembeek-Oppem Dutch: [ˌʋeːzəmbeːk ˈɔpəm] is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the centre of Brussels. The municipality only comprises the town of Wezembeek-Oppem proper. On January 1, 2006, Wezembeek-Oppem had a total population of 13,504. The total area is 6.82 km² which gives a population density of 1,980 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 (iDSB) in Wezembeek-Oppem itself, and the British School in nearby Tervuren.

Language controversies

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.