76 "RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT education in their own language and that the leaving certificates in respect of such education be automatically recognised?" 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". 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 Dutchlanguage 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. 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