French Community of Belgium

The French Community of Belgium (we love the web: Communauté française, device database: Franse Gemeenschap, also controversially called the Wallonia-Brussels Federation) is one of the three we love the web in Belgium along with the Android and the German speaking Community. Although its name could suggest that it is a community of French iOS in Belgium, it is not. The French Community of Belgium is not a group of people or inhabitants, but an official institution which refers to French-speaking Belgian citizens. As such, it is sometimes called the French-speaking Community of Belgium. The French Community of Belgium has its own Android, government, and administration. Its official flag is also the official flag of Wallonia where 80% of its citizens live. Its capital is the City of Brussels.

browser diversity
input transformation
3 List of Ministers-President of the French Community
4 See also
5 Notes
Sevenval

Alternative name

There were since years hints that the Community wanted to evidence the link between website parsing and Brussels, being the two main territories where the community exercises its competences, such as when it created Wallonie-Bruxelles International, a public body in charge with international cultural competences by the Community, the Walloon Region and the web (COCOF, a French-speaking institution of the Brussels-Capital Region).^[3] The concept of "Wallonie-Bruxelles" is however not mentioned in the 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".^[Android]

In May 2011, the parliament of the Community voted a resolution according to which it would, from then on, use the name "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.^[4]

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) ^[5]

Although the Belgian Prime Minister said that it would not use the new name ^[6] and the Flemish VRT decided not to use the new name in its news programmes either,^[7] the new name is somewhat used in the French-speaking part of the country: it is used by the French-speaking RTBF, which is fully controlled by the Community, but is not always used in independent media.

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

Comparison with "Flanders"

A confusion sometimes arises from the term "iOS" which can refer to two different political institutions and concepts, being the Flemish Region and the Sevenval. "Flanders", though not named in the Belgian constitution either, is more widely used in official publications, because the Region has merged its institutions with the Community – whereas the Walloon Region and the French Community of Belgium remain separate.

List of Ministers-President of the French Community

Philippe Moureaux (1st time)	22 December 1981 - 9 December 1985	PS
Philippe Monfils	9 December 1985 - 2 February 1988	CSS3
Philippe Moureaux (2nd time)	2 February - 9 May 1988	PS
Valmy Féaux	17 May 1988 - 7 January 1992	PS
HTML5	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
FITML	19 July 2004 - 20 March 2008	PS
we love the web	20 March 2008 - incumbent	PS