Politics of Wallonia: Difference between revisions

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The politics of Wallonia concern the government of Wallonia, that is the southern Region of Belgium.

The capital is Namur, where are the seats of the Government of Wallonia, the Parliament of Wallonia and the Public Service of Wallonia.

Structures

Regions of Belgium
Brussels-Capital (**blue**)
Wallonia (**red**)
Flemish Region(**yellow**)

Since 23 April 1993, Belgium has been a federal state, divided into three geographical regions and three linguistic communities. The Walloon Region is one of the three regions, almost totally French-speaking. The other two geographical regions are the Flemish Region, a mainly Dutch-speaking region in the north and west, and the Brussels-Capital, bilingual French-Dutch administering the city of Brussels. Some governmental competencies are exercised by the linguistic communities, of which the French community of Belgium is the largest in Wallonia, while the German-speaking community of Belgium's responsibilities are for an area within Wallonia.

The Parliament of Wallonia is a unicameral legislature of 75 members elected to serve five-year terms. It is based in the former Hospice Saint-Gilles at Namur.

The Government of Wallonia is responsible to the Parliament. Excepting cultural and education matters, which are controlled by the linguistic communities, the Walloon Region's competences include local administration, housing, transport, training, employment, health and social policy. The region administers a number of companies, including those responsible for the provision of water and public transport.

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.

Parliament

The directly elected Walloon Parliament was created in June 1995, replacing the Conseil régional wallon (Regional Council of Wallonia). This first sat on 15 October 1980 and was composed of members of the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives and the Belgian Senate elected from Wallonia.

The parliament exercises several 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.
It ratifies the international treaties linked to its powers.

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

The president of the parliament was José Happart (PS), the Vice-Presidents were Véronique Cornet (MR), Michel Lebrun (CDh) and Charles Janssens (PS).

The composition of the parliament for the 2009-2014 legislature is as follows:

The president of the parliament is Emily Hoyos.

The new coalition government is gathering the PS, the CDH and Ecolo and has the same minister-president.

The 75 members of the parliament (except German-speaking members, who are substituted by French-speaking members from the same party), together with 19 French-speaking members elected by the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region, form the Parliament of the French Community. Since 1999 elections have been held together with those for the European Parliament.

Government

The Government of Wallonia is the executive body of the Walloon Region.

Walloon Government - Dolimont v t e
Function	Name	Party
Minister-president; Minister of Budget, Finance, Animal Welfare, International Affairs, and Firearms Licenses	Adrien Dolimont		MR
Vice-President; Minister of Urban Planning, Public Works, Traffic Safety; and Local Affairs	François Desquesnes		LE
Vice-President; Minister of Economy and Employment	Pierre-Yves Jeholet		MR
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs	Anne-Catherine Dalcq		MR
Minister of Energy, Air-Climate Plan, Housing and Airports	Cécile Neven		MR
Minister of Sports, Infrastructure, and Media	Jacqueline Galant		MR
Minister of Tourism, Heritage, Infrastructure, and Childcare	Valérie Lescrenier		LE
Minister of Health, Environment, Social Economy, Social Action, Fight against Poverty, Handicapped, and Families	Yves Coppieters		LE

The Government of the French Community and the Government of the German-speaking Community are the executive bodies of respectively the French and German-speaking Communities.

References

External links

Wallonia Portal
(in French) Government of Wallonia
(in French) Parliament of Wallonia
(in French) Parliament of the French-Speaking Community

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 The [[Government of the French Community]] and the [[Government of the German-speaking Community]] are the executive bodies of respectively the French and German-speaking Communities.
-<!--
-=== La Wallonie sur la scène internationale ===
-La Wallonie a établi des Délégations générales à [[Québec]], [[Berlin]], [[Paris]], [[Varsovie]], [[Prague]], [[Bruxelles]] (UE), [[Bâton Rouge]], [[Santiago de Chili]], [[Dakar]], [[Rabat]], [[Kinshasa]], [[Alger]], [[Tunis]], [[Bucarest]] et [[Hanoï]]... De plus l'ensemble des ambassades belges sont tenues d'accueillir ses Agences à l'exportation (AWEX).
-Dans le cadre de la représentation Wallone de la Belgique au niveau européen, la première initiative "internationale" de la Wallonie fut de signer une ''Déclaration commune'' avec le [[Québec]], le [[12 décembre]] 1980 dans le cadre alors encore très limité de ses compétences. C'est le Premier Ministre [[René Lévesque]] et le Ministre-Président [[Jean-Maurice Dehousse]] qui signèrent cet engagement dont le suivi fut assuré jusqu'à aujourd'hui.-->
-<!--== Compétences de la Région wallonne ==
-Outre les compétences [[Régions de Belgique|régionales]] qui lui ont été attribuées par la constitution belge, la région Wallonne s'est vu attribuer une partie des compétences de la [[Communauté française de Belgique|Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles]] en 1993.
-Par ailleurs, en pratique, les 75 parlementaires wallons exercent, avec 19 parlementaires bruxellois francophones, les compétences de la Communauté française, et plusieurs ministres wallons (Marie, Arena, Dominique Simonet...) siègent ''en même temps'' au Gouvernement wallon et au Gouvernement de la Communauté Wallonie-Bruxelles. Si l'on cumule les compétences de la [[Communauté Wallonie-Bruxelles]] concernant la Wallonie et les celles de la [[Wallonie]], on arrive à un total de 51% des anciennes compétences étatiques belges transférées <ref> * Charles Étienne Lagasse, ''Les nouvelles institutions politiques de la Belgique et de l'Europe'', Érasme, Namur, 2003, p. 289</ref>-->
-<!--===Les sièges des institutions===
-*[[Namur (city)|Namur]] : Capitale régionale (siège du [[Parlement wallon]])
-*[[Liège]] : Siège des institutions économiques
-*[[Verviers]] : « Capitale wallonne de l'eau »
-*[[Charleroi]] : Siège des institutions sociales (notamment le [[Forem]])
-*De plus, à [[Bruxelles]], se trouve le siège de l'Agence wallonne à l'Exportation et aux Investissements étrangers (Awex) et la Division des Relations internationales (DRI), pratiquement fusionnée avec le Commissariat général aux Relations internationales de la [[Communauté française de Belgique|Communauté française]] (CGRI).-->
-<!--===L'administration régionale wallonne===
-L'administration régionale wallonne comprend deux ministères :
-* le ministère de la Région wallonne (en abrégé MRW)
-* le ministère wallon de l'Équipement et des Tranports (en abrégé MET)
-Elle comprend par ailleurs une série d'institutions pararégionales (organismes d'intérêt public, en abbrégé OIP) bénéficiant d'une autonomie de gestion. Parmi les plus importantes :
-* l'[[Awex]] - ''commerce extérieur''
-* l'[[Awiph]] - ''intégration des personnes handicapées''
-* l'[[IFAPME]] - ''formation professionnelle''
-* le [[Forem]] - ''emploi et formation professionnelle''
-* la [[SWDE]] - ''production et distribution d'eau''
-* la [[Société wallonne du logement]] - ''logement''
-* la [[Société régionale wallonne du Transport]]-->
 ==See also==