French Community of Belgium

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French-speaking Community
)
This article is about Francophone Belgians. For matters relating to Franco-Belgian ties, see Belgium–France relations.

French Community of Belgium
Communauté française (
Community
MR and Ecolo
 • Minister-PresidentPierre-Yves Jeholet (MR)
 • LegislatureParliament of the French Community
 • SpeakerRudy Demotte (PS)
Population
 • Total±4,500,000
Celebration Day27 September
LanguageFrench, Picard, Walloon
Websitewww.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]

In

Francophone Belgians, and not to French people residing in Belgium. As such, the French Community of Belgium is sometimes rendered in English as "the French-speaking Community of Belgium" for clarity,[3] in analogy to the German-speaking Community of Belgium
.

The Community has its own parliament, government, and administration. Its official flag is identical to the Walloon flag, which is also the official flag of the Walloons of Wallonia.

Wallonia is home to 80% of all Francophone Belgians, with the remaining 20% residing in Brussels, which is the seat of parliament of the French Community. There are an estimated 400,000 native French speakers in Flanders.[4]

Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg (mainly the district called Land of Arlon or Arelerland
), where Luxembourgish is still widely spoken.

Description

The French Community of Belgium includes 4.5 million people, of whom:

French speakers who live in the Flemish Region are not included in the official numbers for the French-speaking Community, since the French Community has no jurisdiction in that region. 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,[6] around 200,000,[7] to around 300,000.[8]

The French Community of Belgium makes up about 40% of the total population of Belgium; 60% of the population belongs to the Flemish Community, and 1% to the German-speaking Community.

Alternative name

For years there have been hints that the Community wanted to better demonstrate[

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".

In May 2011, the parliament of the Community voted a resolution according to which it would, from then on, use the name "Wallonia-Brussels Federation" (French: "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.[10]

That name also obscures the fact that this institution does not represent the Flemings living in Brussels, nor their local Flemish Community Commission ('Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie', or VGC) nor the Brussels-Capital Region.

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).[11]

Although the then

VRT decided not to use the new name in its news programs either,[13] it is used by the French-speaking media, including the RTBF
public network, which is fully controlled by the Community. The independent/private media uses both the alternative and the original designation.

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

Politics and government

See also: Parliament of the French Community and Government of the French Community

The French Community of Belgium is governed by the Parliament of the French Community, which selects the executive branch, the Government of the French Community.

Parliament

The

Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
within the former body. These members are elected for a term of five years.

The current President of the Parliament of the French Community is

PS
).

Current composition (2019–2024)

See also:
List of members of the Parliament of the French Community
Affiliation Members
•
Socialist Party
(PS) 		28
•
Reformist Movement
(MR) 		23
• Ecolo 18
Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB-GO!) 13
Humanist Democratic Centre
(cdH) 		11
Democratic Federalist Independent
(DéFI) 		3
Total 94

Note: Government coalition parties are denoted with bullets (•)

Executive

The Cabinet of the French Community of Belgium (French: Gouvernement de la Communauté française) is the executive branch of the French Community, and it too sits in Brussels. It consists of a number of ministers chosen by the parliament and is headed by a Minister-President.

Government of the French Community – Jeholet
Party Name Function
MR Pierre-Yves Jeholet (from 7 July 2023) Minister President and Minister of Intra-Belgian Relations, International and European Relations, Development Cooperation, Education for Social Promotion and Sports
MR Pierre-Yves Jeholet (until 7 July 2023) Minister President and Minister of Intra-Belgian Relations, International and European Relations and Development Cooperation
MR Françoise Bertieaux (from 7 July 2023) Minister of Higher Education, University Hospitals, Youthcare, Justice, Youth and the Promotion of Brussels
MR Valérie Glatigny (until 7 July 2023) Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Youth and Sports
PS Caroline Désir Minister of Education
PS Frédéric Daerden Minister of Budget, Public Functions and Equal Rights
Ecolo Bénédicte Linard Minister of Culture, Media, Day-care and Women's Rights
  • On 7 July 2023, Valérie Glatigny resigned as Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, Youth and Sports due to having to undergo a medical intervention. Glatigny was replaced by Françoise Bertieaux who took over the portfolios Higher Education, University Hospitals, Youthcare, Justice, Youth and the Promotion of Brussels. The portfolios of Education for Social Promotion and Sports moved to Pierre-Yves Jeholet.[14]


List of ministers-president of the French Community

Philippe Moureaux (1st term) 22 December 1981 – 9 December 1985
PS
Philippe Monfils 9 December 1985 – 2 February 1988
PRL
Philippe Moureaux (2nd term) 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 – 17 September 2019 PS
Pierre-Yves Jeholet 17 September 2019 – incumbent MR

Religion

In 2016, 63% of residents of Brussels and Wallonia declared themselves

Protestant, 2% were of another religion and 26% were non-religious.[15]

Religion in Brussels and Wallonia (2016)[15]

  
Protestant (2%)
  Islam
(4%)
  Non-religious (26%)
  Other religion (2%)

See also

Notes

  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. ^ "French-speaking Community of Belgium, Université catholique de Louvain".
  4. ^ https://www.rtbf.be/article/la-minorite-francophone-toujours-plus-importante-en-flandre-10860225
  5. ^ Xavier Deniau, La francophonie, Presses universitaires de France, 1995, page 27
  6. ^ Frédéric Lasserre, Aline Lechaume, Le territoire pensé: géographie des représentations territoriales, Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2005, page 104
  7. ^ Catherine Lanneau, L'inconnue française: la France et les Belges francophones, 1944–1945, Peter Lang Verlagsgruppe, collection: Enjeux internationaux, 2008, page 25
  8. ^ L'année francophone internationale, volume 15, Groupe d'études et de recherches sur la francophonie, Université Laval, 2005, page 25
  9. ^ "Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI)".
  10. ^ La nouvelle Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles défraye la chronique, La Libre Belgique, 25 May 2011
  11. ^ Une Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, La Dernière Heure, 5 April 2011
  12. ^ Leterme houdt alleen rekening met benaming in grondwet, De Standaard, 26 May 2011
  13. ^ Ne dites pas "Federatie Wallonië-Brussel" sur la VRT, 7sur7, 29 September 2011
  14. VRT News
     (in Flemish). 7 July 2023.
  15. ^ a b lesoir.be (28 January 2016). "75% des francophones revendiquent une identité religieuse". lesoir.be. Retrieved 5 June 2017.

External links

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