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Voeren (Municipality, Province of Limburg, Belgium)

Fourons

by Christophe Janssen

Description of the flag
Former unofficial flag

See also:

Description of the flag

The flag shall be adopted by the new Municipal Council of Voeren on 1 January 2001.

Christophe Janssen, 25 October 2000

All the Flemish communes are obliged since the decrees of the 28th January 1977 and 21st December 1994 to have a coat of arms and a flag. These emblems are adopted by the authorities of the communes, approved by the Flemish Heraldic Council and officially recognized by the concerned Minister. If the flag or a coat of arms of a commune wasn't approved by the Flemish Heraldic Council, this last could propose and fix officially the flag or the coat of arms of that commune. That has already happened with the case of the commune of Voeren (Fourons) which didn't want the coat of arms / flag proposed by the Flemish Heraldic Council. This has led to the State Court which decided that this commune should have the coat of arms / flag proposed by the Flemish Heraldic Council, that is:
"quartered: 1 and 4, or a lion Sable langued and armed Gules (Flanders); 2 and 3, Argent a lion Gules langued, armed and crowned Or (Limburg)".

Pascal Vagnat, 10 February 2000

Former unofficial flag

by Filip van Laenen

The former Municipal Council of Fourons refused to adopt arms and flag, although the Flemish legislation imposed it. Due to this lack of adoption, the Flemish Heraldic Council imposed a quartered flag with the Flemish and Limburgian lions. This was unacceptable for the French-speakers of Fourons, who never stopped claiming to join the province of Liège. They were rattached to Limburg for obscure questions of delimitations and compensations when the linguistical border was defined. The Municipal Council went to the court for the flag question but lost the case.
The municipal council refused to use the quartered flag (and could be fined for this) but used a banner of arms, which is also the flag of the local political party Action Fouronnaise. The arms bear the flight of steps of Liège and eleven alternating red and yellow stripes, which (probably) stand for the eleven communes that were merged to form Fourons (plurial since they were more than one Fouron among them) / Voeren.
The flag was (probably) not official even if adopted by the Municipal Council, because the Flemish Heraldic Council could not have accepted such a revendicative design.

Pascal Vagnat, 10 February 2000