1. [align=left]
    1. Therefore, refusal of homologation constitutes a mere "inconvenience" and not a "penalty" in disguise. As it does not concern "the right to organise teaching and to enjoy the natural results thereof", it is in no way "equivalent to a denial of the right to education"; it does not affect the Applicants "in the field of education but in the field of its consequences". Then, the Convention it says, contains "an unfortunate lacuna", which is not to be explained as "inadvertent"; it does not contain "a single Article on the exercise of a profession". While not wishing to take this "somewhat exegetical" argument to extremes, the Belgian Government is of the opinion that it is necessary to show "a certain prudence" in a sphere not expressly covered by the Convention.
    2. Moreover, the holders of non-homologated certificates may acquire a legally-recognised diploma by sitting - in the language of their choice - an examination before the Central Board. The Belgian Government does not deny that "the number of failures" before the Central Board is "considerably greater" than "at the end of secondary education in official or recognised schools", but such a situation seems to it to be "inevitable". This is so because "pupils who sit the examinations in the last (...) year of secondary school form a group that has survived severe elimination as a result of the examinations and of the failures of the five previous years". On the other hand, pupils who come before the Central Board "have not been so severely selected" and "a by no means negligible number" of them "are wholly or partially self-taught". The syllabus of the examination in question is so planned as to give to candidates "a reasonable chance of success". As regards the entrance fee payable, the cost is "modest".
    3. The Belgian Government further emphasises that as a general rule, "a university graduate, no matter what the language of his degree, may settle anywhere in the country and take up any profession for which his degree fits him". In Belgium, admission to only certain professions - "the Bench, the civil service, education provided, aided or recognised by the public authorities, etc" - is dependent on a command of the language of the region; it is possible "to have no knowledge at all of Dutch and yet to practise medicine, law or engineering in Flanders". What would happen if the Belgian State were to agree to the homologation of school leaving certificates issued in Flanders by French-language private schools but at the same time introduced legislation that stipulated certain requirements relating to the knowledge of languages for the exercise of any liberal profession? According to the Government this would create an "unhealthy situation": on the one hand, one "would be encouraging all French-speakers living in Flanders to send their children" to such schools; on the other, one would be denying these children entry "to the careers to which they aspire", as such establishments would not give them a sufficient grounding in the necessary language. In the Government's view, such legislation would be "much more severe, much stricter and more dishonest" than the provisions now in force and "would constitute a veritable trap". Yet it would violate neither "the letter nor the spirit of the Convention". A fortiori, the laws now in force being "more liberal and wiser", respect the Convention and the Protocol.
    4. The Belgian Government furthermore lays great emphasis on one of the consequences which would, in its opinion, follow the adoption of the Applicants' thesis. It recalls that the aim of the Convention and the Protocol is to protect Human Rights and not those of the citizen, for the rights and freedoms safeguarded are secured to all persons within the jurisdiction of the Contracting States, "including foreigners and even nationals of non-signatory States", and this "without discrimination on any ground such as national origin" (Articles 1 and 14 of the Convention) (art. 1, art. 14). From this the Government infers that "the Applicants cannot invoke before a European judicial authority more extensive rights than those to which foreigners are entitled": "can it be said that a foreign minority in the Belgian coalmining area may demand that funds be provided for education in their own language and that the leaving certificates in respect of such education be automatically recognised?"
    5. Finally "legitimate grounds" justify the "penalty of denying homologation". Far from wishing "to liquidate the French-speaking ruling class" in Flanders, the legislature has succeeded in its attempt "to avert certain crises which threatened" and in "creating in Flanders an intelligentsia with a good knowledge of Dutch", capable thereby of accomplishing its "social duty".
    6. The Belgian authorities have had as their point of departure two facts: the presence, in Belgium, of "two large population groups speaking separate languages and concentrated in different areas" and "the almost complete absence of a Dutch-speaking élite", which is to be attributed to the "phenomenon of francisation" which has taken place in "the Flemish area". Wishing to "calm certain long-standing conflicts", Parliament originally thought in terms of a "bilingual solution"; this solution was however abandoned as it did not permit the creation of a "truly Dutch-speaking élite". It was thus led to adopt a territorial system, judging that "the best way to ensure collaboration" and "harmonious co-existence" between the two large "language communities within a unitary national State" was "to give predominance, not exclusive rights, for freedom is guaranteed in each part of the country, to the regional language". It was especially considered that "in the interests of the Flemish community" and to remedy "serious social and political tensions", it was necessary to encourage "attendance at Dutch-language schools" and "not to give help and encouragement to educational institutions" whose effect was to encourage "francisation of the élite". How could a Dutch-speaking élite in Flanders have been established without "halting" or "checking" this "phenomenon of active francisation"? In "disapproving" the second of these purposes while "endorsing the first", the Commission is adopting a position which is scarcely coherent.
    7. In the view of the Belgian Government, the education provided "in unilingual French-language schools" in Flanders "was good in all subjects except one: Dutch language". Now, in the view of the Belgian legislator, and in opposition to the implicit opinion of the Commission, the fact that a school in Flanders "provides only an inadequate knowledge" of Dutch does affect "the quality of the education" in question. The Convention and the Protocol in no way require a State "to recognise the validity of diplomas issued by a particular educational establishment, once such education is satisfactory from the technical point of view"; neither do they forbid a State from making such recognition "dependent upon certain linguistic qualifications", and "from reserving" a number of functions or professions "for those with the technical and linguistic knowledge necessary to guarantee their suitability". According to the Belgian Government those who wish "to play a leading part in the country" should "desire the social and cultural advancement" of the people and, consequently, acquire "a sufficient knowledge of the language" of the latter.
    8. The "legitimate" purpose thus followed has been achieved; "if, after 1932, many Flemish parents preferred to send their children to Dutch-language schools, the sole reason was, and the main reason still is", that in Flanders only certificates issued by such schools are homologated. "From that time, the Flemings" have a "numerous upper class" and "Flemish separatism has disappeared".
    9. In short, "the Belgian idea" involves no "unlawful discrimination against minorities". This is not peculiar to Belgium: in several other countries, such as Switzerland, the principle of non-discrimination is equally "subject" to "the principle of regional homogeneity in educational matters".
    10. The Commission confirmed before the Court the opinion which it had formulated on this point in its Report.
      Refusal of homologation does not infringe Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) taken in isolation. It is true that the "right to education" comprises, at least "in Belgium's present economic and social circumstances" and "in those of other countries that have signed the Protocol", "the right to draw full benefit from the education received" (cf. supra). Article 2 (P1-2), however, leaves the State "free to establish or subsidise schools or to abstain from so doing" (cf. supra). From this it follows that "the Belgian State is not obliged by the Article (P1-2) in question to grant homologation of leaving certificates issued by any schools whatsoever, whether or not they comply with the requirements of the language legislation". According to the Commission, "the fact that the legislation attacked strikes at education given in a language which is generally spoken by a large part of the population and is considered as one of the national languages may appear particularly hard". "However, the fact is irrelevant from the point of view of Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2)", which "authorises no distinction between nationals of a particular State and foreign nationals". Two members of the Commission reached the same conclusion by different reasoning, but three others see the measure in dispute as "a restriction which prevents the individual from deriving the profit normally inherent in the education which he receives" and consequently as "a partial denial of the right to education". The Commission draws the attention of the Court to those various individual opinions.
      Nor is there any violation of Article 8 (art. 8) of the Convention on the point in question: the possibility of "grave unjustified disturbances caused in the private or family life" of the Applicants is relevant "only to primary education" and the question of homologation does not arise at this level (cf. supra).
      The Commission finally examines the question as to whether or not the refusal of homologation complies with the requirements of Article 2 of the Protocol and Article 8 of the Convention, here read in conjunction with Article 14 (art. 14+P1-2, art. 14+8). It finds no such non-compliance as regards Article 8 (art. 8) of the Convention and the second sentence of Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) but does find it with respect to the first sentence of Article 2 (P1-2).
      In its endeavours to discover "the general effect of the legislation attacked", the Commission is of the opinion that the latter has "neither the object nor the effect of ensuring the qualifications thought necessary for the exercise of certain functions or professions", "nor indeed of ensuring linguistic knowledge". Where such knowledge "is required, a candidate has to show that he possesses it": "it is not enough for him to have complied with the linguistic legislation during his studies". In this connection, the Commission observes that "a knowledge of the regional language is required" only for the exercise of certain "liberal professions" ("the Bench", "the Civil Service", "public and State-recognised education", etc), that the study of the second national language is almost everywhere optional in Belgium, especially after the entry into force of the Act of 30th July 1963 and that "a pupil undergoing an examination before the Central Board does so in the language of his choice". From this it concludes that it is "possible" at least in theory, "to obtain legally recognised university degrees without having learned the second national language". It adds that degrees conferred by the four Universities in Belgium, the bilingual Universities at Brussels and Louvain, the Dutch-language University at Ghent and the French-language University at Liege, permit their holders, "anywhere in the Kingdom and without giving evidence even of a rudimentary knowledge of the language of the region", to "occupy any of the public offices and practise any of the professions for which knowledge of the regional language is not specifically required". "Conversely, a Belgian national who has received a secondary education which is not in accordance with the linguistic legislation", and then "obtained a non-recognised degree at a university","is not free to practise anywhere in Belgium" - except by taking "a full examination before the Central Board" - "to hold the offices or practise the professions for which his studies have prepared him", even if he has "a perfect knowledge of the two national languages".
      In reality, in the Commission's view, the legislation in dispute aims at the "assimilation of minorities against their will into the sphere of the regional language"; it does not seek solely to protect "the Dutch language and culture in Flemish areas" and to "halt the spread of the French language in those areas". On this point, the Commission in particular recalls "that homologation is refused by reason of the mere fact that (...) the pupils' secondary education has not been in accordance with the linguistic legislation", "even if only for a year or a few months". It further emphasises "that a pupil who has received French education in Wallonia may obtain homologation of his certificate, unlike a pupil who has received absolutely identical French education in the Flemish region". The first may then "obtain a legally recognised degree", whereas the latter, even if he successfully pursues the "same studies" at university must be satisfied with a non-recognised ("scientifique") degree, unless "he has passed a full examination before the Central Board in the language of his choice". It is true that these rules apply equally to "schooling completed in the Dutch language in an establishment in Wallonia". In practice, however, they hardly touch education given in Dutch: although "before the 1932 Acts there were French secondary schools in the Flemish region", "no one has stated before the Commission that there were at that time Dutch secondary schools in Wallonia". Here again the "parallelism" invoked by the Belgian Government "works solely against the French-speaking population".
      This being so, eight members of the Commission express the opinion that the refusal to grant homologation infringes the right to education as it is jointly defined by Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) and Article 14 (art. 14) of the Convention.
      It is true that "neither the Convention nor the Protocol guarantees access to any functions or occupations whatsoever". The first sentence of Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) nevertheless enshrines, "in spite of its negative formulation", "the right of every person to education". Now, in our age, education is not "in the immense majority of cases", an "end in itself". "Those who receive instruction (...) do so not disinterestedly, but with the intention of preparing themselves for the work" upon which they propose to embark on completion of their studies. To the Commission, "the right to education would be only an illusion if it did not include the right to draw full benefit from education", and Article 2 (P1-2) would be "meaningless" if it were accepted that it did no more than guarantee the right "to a purely humanist education". "Any legislation which, while not denying anyone the right to education, were to lay down discriminatory measures with regard to the advantages that individuals or groups of individuals may derive from their education", including "the exercise of those functions or professions to which the education in question normally gives access", would not, in the Commission's view, violate "Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) considered in isolation" but would infringe "that Article read in conjunction with Article 14 (art. 14+P1-2) of the Convention", for it would not "secure enjoyment of the right to education for everyone without discrimination".
      In Belgium, certain advantages are reserved to the holders of homologated certificates. In order to determine whether or not this constitutes a "discrimination" incompatible with Article 14 (art. 14), the Commission considers it necessary to examine closely the "reasons" behind the refusal to grant homologation. In its opinion what are involved are not "academic considerations" (cf. supra), nor administrative reasons. On this last point, the Commission admits that the Belgian State does not inspect "schools which do not observe the linguistic legislation". It observes, however, that "it would be of no use for a school which did not comply" with the linguistic legislation on all points to "declare that it intended" to submit to being inspected: by reason of Section 24 of the Act of 29th May 1959, "the State would refuse to act on the declaration". According to the Commission, this refusal also involves "discrimination contrary to Article 14 (art. 14)": "there would be no serious administrative or financial difficulty in arranging for the inspection of schools in Dutch-speaking areas which provide education in French" or of "Flemish schools in the Walloon area". In actual fact the measure in dispute constitutes one of the means of implementing the policy of the Belgian State which certainly wishes "to encourage the Dutch language and culture in Flanders, but which has exceeded this aim by trying to prevent the spread or even the continuance of the French language in that region".
    [/align]