French Community of Belgium

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French Community of Belgium
Communauté française
—  Community of Belgium  —

Flag
Country Belgium
Established 1980
Capital Brussels
Government
 • Minister-President Rudy Demotte
Celebration Day 27th September
Language French
Website www.cfwb.be
The Walloon flag was chosen as flag of the French Community of Belgium in 1975. It was adopted by the Walloon Region in 1998.[1][2]

The French Community (French: Communauté française, Dutch: Franse Gemeenschap, also controversially called the Wallonia-Brussels Federation) is one of the three official communities in Belgium along with the Flemish Community and the German speaking Community. Although the name appears to refer to French citizens in Belgium, it does not. The designation is an official institution which refers to francophone Belgian citizens. As such, it is sometimes called the "French-speaking" Community of Belgium. The Community has its own parliament, government, and administration. Its official flag is also the official flag of Wallonia where 80% of its citizens live. Its capital is the City of Brussels.

Contents

Description [edit]

The French Community of Belgium includes 4.3 million people, of which:

  • 3.4 million (80%) live in the Walloon Region (that is almost the entirety of the inhabitants of this region, apart from people who live in the German-speaking communes, who number around 70,000);
  • 0.9 million[3] (20%) living in the Brussels-Capital Region (out of 1.1 million inhabitants).

French-speakers who live in the Flemish Region are not included in the official numbers for the French-speaking Community. Their number is unknown, given the absence of sub-nationality status and the discouragement of linguistic criteria in census-taking. Estimates of the French-speaking population of Flanders vary from 120,000,[4] around 200,000,[5] to around 300,000.[6]

The French Community of Belgium makes up 41% of the total population of Belgium, the rest being 58% Flemish Community and 1% German-speaking Community).

Alternative name [edit]

There have for years been hints that the Community wanted to better demonstrate the link between Wallonia and Brussels, the two main territories where the community is the dominant ethno-linguistic group, such as the creation of Wallonie-Bruxelles International, a public body in charge of international cultural affairs, the Walloon Region and the Commission communautaire française (COCOF, a French-speaking institution of the Brussels-Capital Region).[7] The concept of "Wallonie-Bruxelles" is however not mentioned in the Belgian constitution, and appeared only in a few official legal texts, such as the "Arrêté du Gouvernement de la Communauté française fixant le code de qualité et de l'accueil" of 17 December 2003, mentioning the name "Communauté Wallonie-Bruxelles", and the "Arrêté du Gouvernement de la Communauté française approuvant le programme quinquennal de promotion de la santé 2004-2008 of 30 April 2004, mentioning the name "Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles".[citation needed]

In May 2011, the parliament of the Community voted a resolution according to which it would, from then on, use the name "Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles" for all its communications, campaigns and in the administration. The move was immediately interpreted as aggressive by the Flemish authorities, the Minister-President of Flanders announcing he would not recognize the federation as an official body and saying that documents that would be sent by the federation would be unconstitutional and therefore would not exist.[8]

While the authorities of the Community acknowledge the fact that the new name is not mentioned in the Belgian Constitution, they insist that their move is not illegal, as long as the new name is used as an additional name for the Community and is not used when it could create a legal issue (such as with the official texts published in the Belgian Official Journal) [9]

Although the Belgian Prime Minister said that the government would not use the new name [10] and the Flemish VRT decided not to use the new name in its news programs either,[11] the new name is somewhat used in the French-speaking part of the country: it is used by the French-speaking RTBF, which is fully controlled by the Community, but is not always used in independent media.

In September 2011, the Community adopted a new logo that incorporates its new name.

Comparison with "Flanders" [edit]

"Flanders" is a term which can refer to two different but related political institutions and concepts, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. However in both cases the term "Flanders" might be used instead (it is more widely used in official publications as well as informally). This is because the Flemish Region has merged its institutions with the Community – whereas the Walloon Region and the French Community of Belgium remain separate and as such, the two are not interchangeable, especially since a significant portion of the French Community is found outside Wallonia, namely in the Brussels Region.

List of Ministers-President of the French Community [edit]

Philippe Moureaux (1st time) 22 December 1981 - 9 December 1985 PS
Philippe Monfils 9 December 1985 - 2 February 1988 PRL
Philippe Moureaux (2nd time) 2 February - 9 May 1988 PS
Valmy Féaux 17 May 1988 - 7 January 1992 PS
Bernard Anselme 7 January 1992 - 4 May 1993 PS
Laurette Onkelinx 4 May 1993 - 13 July 1999 PS
Hervé Hasquin 13 July 1999 - 19 July 2004 PRL
Marie Arena 19 July 2004 - 20 March 2008 PS
Rudy Demotte 20 March 2008 - incumbent PS

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ Le Drapeau - Communauté française de Belgique
  2. ^ Décret déterminant le jour de fête et les emblèmes propres à la Communauté française de Belgique (D. 03-07-1991, M.B. 15-11-1991)
  3. ^ Xavier Deniau, La francophonie, Presses universitaires de France, 1995, page 27
  4. ^ Frédéric Lasserre, Aline Lechaume, Le territoire pensé: géographie des représentations territoriales, Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2005, page 104
  5. ^ Catherine Lanneau, L'inconnue française : la France et les Belges francophones, 1944-1945, Peter Lang Verlagsgruppe, collection : Enjeux internationaux, 2008, page 25
  6. ^ L'année francophone internationale, volume 15, Groupe d'études et de recherches sur la francophonie, Université Laval, 2005, page 25
  7. ^ See website of Wallonie-Bruxelles International
  8. ^ La nouvelle Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles défraye la chronique, La Libre Belgique, 25 May 2011
  9. ^ Une Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, La Dernière Heure, 5 April 2011
  10. ^ Leterme houdt alleen rekening met benaming in grondwet , De Standaard, 26 May 2011
  11. ^ Ne dites pas "Federatie Wallonië-Brussel" sur la VRT, 7sur7, 29 September 2011

External links [edit]

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