"RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT 19 economic and social circumstances, as indeed in those of the other countries that have signed the Protocol", one cannot imagine that Article 2 (P1-2) is limited to the safeguarding of the right to a purely humanist education or to education "purely for the love of it". In other respects "the exact scope" of the first sentence of Article 2 (P1-2) may be disputed; "it may be asked, for example, whether once it has set up a system of public education, a State may abandon the entire system and throw the burden on to private enterprise". The Commission finally recalls that in the opinion of five of the twelve members who were present at the adoption of its Report of 24th June 1965, Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) gives rise to positive obligations; it draws the attention of the Court to the individual opinions given on the matter. 2. The wording of the second sentence of Article 2 of the Protocol (P12) is as follows: "In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions." The Applicants asserted before the Commission that the "family" right of parents, guaranteed by this text, has "the same legal force as the other rights and freedoms guaranteed"; the words "shall respect", which during the course of the "preparatory work" replaced the phrase "shall have regard to", which was adjudged to be too vague by the Consultative Assembly, require "positive direct action" on the part of the State. According to the Applicants of Antwerp, Ghent and Vilvorde, moreover, the second sentence of Article 2 (P1-2) does not concern the education and teaching organised by the parents themselves but applies to "that in relation to which the State assumes functions"; it concerns therefore "official teaching and independent teaching subsidised, regulated and controlled" by the public authorities. As regards the "philosophical convictions" they include the "personalist doctrine" which these Applicants "profess"; for the Applicants of Alsemberg, Beersel, Kraainem and Louvain they necessarily include the cultural and linguistic preferences of the parents. The Belgian Government maintains, on the other hand, that the second sentence of Article 2 (P1-2) gives rise, like the first (P1-2), to a "purely negative obligation". Enshrining "the right of parents to provide education for their children in conformity with their wishes", the sentence implies that the State must not "impede" the exercise of this right; on the other hand, the State remains free to "regulate admission to the education which it itself organises or subsidises" and moreover is not required to place education "organised by parents" "on exactly the same footing as official education, so far as concerns the granting of subsidies and the homologation of diplomas". A study of the "preparatory work" furthermore proves that "the European organs concerned never thought about linguistic problems", but "simply about conflicts on ideological and denominational matters".