The Walloon Region
Territory
The Walloon region covers the territory of the 5 Walloon provinces: Brabant wallon, Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg and Namur.
Competencies
The Walloon Region exercises
1) the regional competencies attributed to it by law
2) the community competencies that have been transferred to it by the French Community. Those competencies essentially are: some cultural matters (sports infrastructures, tourism, social promotion and occupational training and redeployment), school transport and nearly all personal matters (health policy except for university hospitals, family policy except for the Child Welfare Authority (ONE), social welfare, integration of immigrants, disabled persons and senior citizens). In this case, the Walloon Region exercises its competencies only in the French linguistic region.
Political institutions
The political institutions of the Walloon Region are the Walloon Parliament, and the Walloon Government.
The Walloon Parliament is composed of 75 members, elected every five years by direct universal suffrage.
The Walloon Parliament essentially exercises two functions:
as an instrument of legislative power, it discusses and passes decrees, and can take the initiative to draw them up. Once passed, the decrees are sanctioned and promulgated by the Walloon Government ;
as a control body for the executive power, it controls the Walloon government, which it is accountable to it. This control is exercised, in particular, via the vote on budgets and accounts, the vote on motions of confidence or no confidence, parliamentary questions, etc.
The Walloon Parliament elects the members of the Walloon Government, who are not necessarily members of Parliament.
The Walloon Government participates in legislative power and, like the Parliament, it can take the initiative to draw up decrees. As an executive power, it issues the orders necessary for the application of the decrees.
The Walloon Government is accountable to the Walloon Parliament. Both are based in Namur, the capital of the Walloon Region.