Walloon Region

Walloon Region Région wallonne (French) Wallonische Region (German)
—  Region of Belgium  —
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Le Chant des Wallons
Country	Belgium
Capital	Namur
Government
- Minister-President	Rudy Demotte
Area
- Total	16,844 km2 (6,503.5 sq mi)
Population (January 1, 2006)
- Total	3,413,978
Demographics
- Languages	French, German
ISO 3166 code	BE-WAL
Celebration Day	3rd Sunday of September
Website	www.wallonie.be

The Walloon Region, commonly called Wallonia, is one of the three federal Regions of Belgium. It represents 33% of the population and 55% of the territory of Belgium. The region is predominantly French-speaking but there are also German-speaking municipalities in the east, accounting for 2% of the population of Wallonia. Its official languages are French and German. As the other regions, the Walloon Region has its own parliament and government and exercises its functions by the limits defined by the Belgian constitution. Wallonia owns also the Treaty-Making Policy as the other Belgian entities, an exception, following Philippe Suinen, among the Federal States, and, as pointing out recently by Michel Quévit professor emeritus at the Université Catholique de Louvain, a quasi State ^[1]: "From 1831, the year of Belgium's independence, until the federalization of the country in 1970, Wallonia has increasingly asserted itself as a region in its own right." ^[2]

Its capital is Namur.

Geography

The territory of the Walloon Region is defined by the Belgian constitution: "The Walloon region is made up of the following provinces: Walloon Brabant, Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg and Namur."^[3]

This territory of 16,844 km² (55.18% of Belgium) occupying the southern part of Belgium is also divided into 20 administrative arrondissements and 262 municipalities.

Administrative divisions

The Walloon Region has an area of 16,844 km² (55.18% of Belgium) and comprises the following provinces:

1. Walloon Brabant
2. Hainaut
3. Liège
4. Luxembourg
5. Namur

Jurisdiction

The constitutional system of Belgium grants the Walloon Region its own legislative and executive powers in the fields for which it is competent:

• agriculture and rural renewal
• development of the territory and town planning
• economy and foreign trade
• employment and vocational training
• the environment, water and nature conservation
• housing
• local authorities, subsidized works and sports infrastructures
• scientific research, new technologies and energy
• international relations
• health and social affairs
• tourism and heritage
• regional transport, mobility and public works.

Motorways are attributed to Walloon Region in its territory.

History

Belgium gained its independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830. Though the new-born country had unifying elements, such as the Catholic religion, a French-speaking bourgeoisie and common economic interests opposed to the Dutch economic ones, the building of a unitary Belgian state posed some serious problems. The language question emerged 1840. Despite the fact that the free use of languages was enshrined in the Constitution, only French was used in the administration, education and justice systems.^[4] The Flemish movement raised to counter this situation and succeeded 1898 to obtain an official language status for the Dutch language. In the late 19th century, Belgium was divided into two utterly opposed communities. On the one hand, the very catholic Flemish society was characterized by an economy centered on agriculture, and, on the other hand, Wallonia was the center of the continental European industrial revolution where liberal and socialist movements were rapidly emerging.^[4] As a result, Belgium inevitably became the theatre of tensions between these two communities.

In the face of an increasingly self-confident Flanders, the distinct regional identity of the Walloons gradually began to appear. The poet Albert Mockel launched 1886 the review La Wallonie and popularized the name, coined in 1844 by Charles-Joseph Grandgagnage.^[4] In 1912, the Walloon movement formed the Walloon Assembly, which was based on one representative per 40,000 inhabitants.^[4] In the period between the two world wars, many Walloon groups demanded a federalization of the country, although such proposals were rejected.^[4] The law of 28 June 1932 established monolingualism in the languages areas of Belgium (and bilingualism in Brussels).^[4]

In the wake of the strikes of 1960, the State reform in Belgium process of state reform in Belgium got under way. This reform started with the linguistic laws of 1962-63, which defined the four language areas within the constitution. In 1968, the conflict between the communities bursted out. The Walloons were driven out of the university of Leuven amid shouts of "Walen buiten!" ("Walloons out!"). The political divergences caused by this unrest brought about the fall of the Belgian government. The State reform, which led to the creation of three communities and three regions, started in 1970.^[4]. The goal of the Wallooon Movement was not the Communities but the three Regions. The Walloon Movement (after World War II) differs from the Flemish movement in that is focused not on cultural and linguistic factors but rather on economic factors. ^[5]

Emblems

Since July 15, 1998, the Walloon Region has had as emblems a coat of arms, a flag, an anthem and a "national" day, though it is not an independent nation.

According to a decree of the 28rd July 2008^[6], the arms are Gold, a bold rooster Gules; they shall be designed according to the model shown in annex 1 of the decree. The bold rooster of these arms can be used separately as the symbol of the Region.

The flag is a coq hardi de gueule sur fond d'or, "a bold red rooster on gold", designed by Pierre Paulus in 1913, and adopted in July 1998.^[7] It is also the flag of the French Community of Belgium and they share the same "national" day, the French Community Holiday on 27 September. The anthem is Le Chant des Wallons ("the Walloons' song"), written by Theophile Bovy in 1900 and composed by Louis Hillier in 1901.

There is also a logo: a red “W arrow” with the baseline “WALLOON REGION”.

Cities

The largest cities in the region include, as of 2007's population figures: [3]

• Charleroi (199,612)
• Liège (180,831)
• Namur (106,770)
• Mons (91,367)
• La Louvière (76,657)
• Tournai (67,944)
• Seraing (60,878)
• Verviers (52,646)
• Mouscron (51,866)

Politics

Since 23 April 1993, Belgium has been a federal state, geographically split into three regions and linguistically split into three communities. The Walloon Region is one of the three (southern region, mainly French-speaking, with a population of 3,360,000), the two others being the Flemish Region (northern region, Dutch-speaking, with a population of 5,900,000) and the Brussels-Capital Region (bilingual French/Dutch with French majority, with a population of 980,000).

The Walloon region has a parliament (one chamber with 75 members elected for five years by direct universal suffrage) and a government responsible in front of the parliament. Its parliament exercices two functions:

• It discusses and passes decrees, and they can take initiatives to draw them up. After this, decrees are sanctioned and promulgated by the Walloon government.
• It controls the Walloon government. Control is exercised via the vote.

The government of Walloon is directed by a political majority. The government numbers nine members with the president. Each member is called a ministre.

The composition of the parliament for the 2004-2009 legislature is as follows:

• Parti Socialiste (socialist party) : 34
• Mouvement Réformateur (liberal democrats, center right) : 20
• Centre Démocrate Humaniste (former Christian party) : 14
• Front national ("nationalist" party) : 4
• Ecolo (green party) : 3

The head of the government, called Ministre-Président, is Rudy Demotte, member of the Parti Socialiste (PS).

See also

• List of Ministers-President of the Walloon Region
• TEC, Walloon public transport company.
• Walloon Parliament
• Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX)
• Regional Investment Company of Wallonia
• SOWALFIN

External links

Wikinews has related news: Walloon region of Belgium officially recognises mosques

• Official gateway to the Walloon Region

References

v • d • e Subdivisions of Belgium Communities Flemish · French · German Regions · Provinces Capital (Brussels)   Flemish (Flanders) Antwerp · East Flanders · Flemish Brabant · Limburg · West Flanders Walloon (Wallonia) Hainaut · Liège · Luxembourg · Namur  · Walloon Brabant Municipalities by region Capital (Brussels) · Flemish (Flanders) · Walloon (Wallonia) Arrondissements Administrative · Electoral · Judicial

v • d • e SaarLorLux Members Belgium French Community · German-speaking Community · Walloon Region France Lorraine · Meurthe-et-Moselle · Moselle Germany Rhineland-Palatinate · Saarland Luxembourg   Institutions Summit Conferences · Regional Commission · Interregional Parliamentary Council · University Charter · European cultural capital 2007 · House of the Greater Region · Private cooperations

Coordinates: 50°30′N 4°45′E / 50.5°N 4.75°E / 50.5; 4.75