Wallonia - Politics and Government

Politics and Government

Wallonia has its own powers and doesn't share them with the other Regions or Communities (except with the Community Wallonia-Brussels but not in the framework of the Belgian constitution, only on the basis of agreements between the Walloon Region and this French Community). As the other Federating units of Belgium, it is entitled to pursue its own foreign policy including the signing of treaties. Following Philippe Suinen, it is an exception among federal States, and, as pointed out recently by Michel Quévit professor emeritus at the Université Catholique de Louvain, a quasi State: "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." There is almost no possible veto of the Belgian State (except in very rare situations), and, even, Belgium, in many domains, is not able to sign an international treaty without the agreement of the Walloon Parliament. There is no legal hierarchy in the structure of the Belgian federal syste and no hierarchy between federal and regional authorities. For this reason, Belgium has many aspects of a confederation.

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

Since 23 April 1993, Belgium has been a federal state made up of Regions and communities.

Wallonia 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 exercises 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.
  • It ratifies the international treaties linked to his powers.

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

  • Parti Socialiste (socialist party PS): 29
  • Mouvement Réformateur (liberal democrats, center right MR): 19
  • Ecolo (green party): 14
  • Centre Démocrate Humaniste (former Christian party: CDh): 13

There are no more representatives of the Front national in the Walloon Parliament.

The Walloon Government is elected by a political majority in Parliament. The government numbers nine members with the president. Each member is called a Walloon minister.

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

The coalition government for the future legislature is (as of 16 July 2009) a center left coalition PS-Ecolo-CDh with the same "Minister President" but other ministers, Paul Furlan, Jean-Marc Nollet, Philippe Henry, Eliane Tillieux and former ministers Jean-Claude Marcourt, André Antoine. The chairman of the Parliament is Êmily Hoyos.

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