78 "RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT 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