landmark laws passed in 1932 and 1962. The language areas were outlined according to the principle of the language of the majority of the population, and a provision in the 1932 law determined that a language census should be conducted every ten years: a municipality could change its linguistic status only according to the findings of the census. This more flexible approach opened the possibility of minorities representing a minimum 30% of the local population being able to obtain services in their native, or chosen, language. 1962: Establishment of the language areas and facilities A 1962 law determined which municipality belonged to what language area. Each Belgian municipality is restricted to one language area, of which there are four: Dutch, French, German, and the bilingual area Brussels-Capital that includes the Belgian capital city and eighteen surrounding municipalities. From then on, modifications of the linguistic regime would be possible only after changing the law, which required a majority of each language community. In that same year, the municipality of Voeren (Fourons) went to the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg, and Comines (Komen) and Mouscron (Moeskroen) to the French-speaking province of Hainaut. These and several other municipalities obtained facilities for the minority language group. In a municipality with a minority speaking another official language, facilities were provided for registered residents speaking that language. For example, education in an alternative official language was made available as long as sixteen or more parents requested its provision. (However a resident of a municipality has no such rights in any neighbouring municipality.) To benefit from these facilities, they must be asked for by the person concerned. This raised the issue of whether the facilities had to be requested on each and every occasion or whether a single request conferred a blanket benefit. In 1997 the Peeters directive required that inhabitants of such municipalities must request such facilities in their chosen language on each and every occasion they want to enjoy that right. This led to a crisis in Voeren surrounding the mayor, José Happart. Protests raised by French-speakers before the European Court of Human Rights ECtHR were mostly unsuccessful (e.g. Belgian Linguistics Case), a number of institutions such as the Catholic University of Leuven obtained authorisation to become bilingual. 1970: insertion of the language areas into the Constitution In 1970, on the completion of the first state reform, four language areas were established by Article 4 of