Structures
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.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Wallonia
Famous quotes containing the word structures:
“The philosopher believes that the value of his philosophy lies in its totality, in its structure: posterity discovers it in the stones with which he built and with which other structures are subsequently built that are frequently better—and so, in the fact that that structure can be demolished and yet still possess value as material.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
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—Mother Teresa (b. 1910)