Wallonia - Demographics and language, Economy, Politics, Etymology, Cinema, Holidays

French-speaking region of S Belgium; pop (2000e) 3 246 000. Walloons (36% of Belgian population); dividing line with Flanders to the N; many towns renowned for their art treasures (Tournai, Huy, Namur, Liège); steel, engineering.

Wallonie (French)
Wallonien (German)

Official languages	French, German
Capital	Namur
Minister-President	Elio Di Rupo
Area  – Total	16,844 km²
Population  – Total (2002)  – Density	3,358,560 inhabitants 199.39/km²
Regional anthem	Li Tchant des Walons
Regional motto	Walon todi! (Walloon forever!)

Wallonia (French: Wallonie, German: Wallonien, Walloon: Walonreye, Dutch: Wallonië) or the Walloon Region (French: Région Wallonne, Dutch: Waals Gewest) is the predominantly French-speaking region that constitutes one of the three federal regions of Belgium, with its capital at Namur.

Demographics and language

The Walloon Region occupies the southern part of Belgium. It has an area of 16844 km² (55.18% of Belgium) and comprises the following provinces:

Hainaut Liège Luxembourg Namur Walloon Brabant

Its major cities and towns include Liège, Namur, Charleroi, Mons, Tournai, Verviers, Arlon, Bastogne, Wavre, Dinant and Eupen.

French is the official language in most municipalities.

The variety of French spoken in Wallonia is Belgian French, which differs from the standard French of France to various degrees depending on the speaker.

In 1990, Belgium also officially recognised Champenois, Gaumais, Picard, and Walloon as regional languages.

Some 70,000 people live in the German-speaking community of Belgium, which has been presented as the best-protected minority in Europe.

Economy

The Walloon economy experienced a strong development in the 19th century, essentially in the regions of Liège and Charleroi.

The current Walloon economy is relatively diversified, although certain areas -- especially around Charleroi and Liège -- are still suffering from the steel industry crisis, with a high unemployment rate of up to 20 percent in some regions.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Wallonia

Since 23 April 1993, Belgium has been a federal state, geographically split into three Regions and linguistically split into three Communities. The Walloon Region is one of the three regions (southern region, mainly French-speaking, with a population of 3,360,000), the two other regions being the Flemish Region (northern region, mainly Dutch-speaking, with a population of 5,900,000) and the Brussels-Capital Region (officially bilingual French/Dutch but mainly French-speaking, with a population of 980,000).

The Walloon region has a parliament (one chamber with 75 members elected for five years) and a government responsible in front of the parliament.

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

Parti Socialiste (socialist party) : 34 Mouvement réformateur (liberal democrats, center right) : 20 Centre démocrate humaniste (former Christian party) : 14 Front national ("nationalist" party) : 4 Ecolo (green party) : 3

The head of the government, called Ministre-Président, was Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe until 2005, when Elio Di Rupo took his place.

Etymology

There are theories about the derivation of the name "Wallonia".

Cinema

Walloon films are often characterized by social realism, like those by the Dardenne brothers or Benoît Mariage, and the social documentaries by Patric Jean.

Holidays

Wallonia celebrates "French Community Day" (a public holiday) on September 27.