Talk:Wallonia

Walloon Region (federal region) and Wallonia (again)

Both articles deal with the same subject. There is no difference between the Walloon Region and Wallonia like there is not difference between Belgium and the Kingdom of Belgium. Both articles should be merged together.--Wester (talk) 14:36, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

I agree. While the article "Wallonia" may describe the region both as an institutional Region and as a cultural area, the current article "Walloon Region (federal region)" does not add any value, it just provides information that is mostly already present on "Wallonia". It is a much shorter article and it is linked from only few other pages; most pages link to Wallonia directly even when the federal region is meant. In short, I see no value in keeping this (duplicate) article. Thanks for bringing this up, I have wanted to make this a redirect before but then I would've needed to start a discussion first :) SPQRobin (talk) 17:34, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

I partly agree with both of you, but I do like having a separate page for the legal entity. It and its history are a real subject, and it helps with clarity for details best not included in a full page on Wallonia. There is also a Flemish Region page for what it's worth, and for a non-Belgian page on a purely political construct, see United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Another of my fears is that through this move the page goes back to the awful separation it had before: where Walloon Region is considered a totally separate topic, and where Wallonia is a nebulous concept with no political status or territory. I suppose my position is a weak oppose. Oreo Priest ^talk 14:53, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Imho you can't really compare the Walloon Region (or any federal/political entity) with the US court article. It is rather about an administrative entity or body, in a very different way from federal/political entities. A better comparison would be e.g. the German federal states; you have an article "Bavaria" which is based on the entity "Free State of Bavaria" and there is no separate article for that entity even if Bavaria previously encompassed a different area. Flanders is a separate case since there are actually two different entities, the region and community, so it makes sense to have articles on both, in addition to Flanders. If Walloon Region is merged into the article Wallonia, in addition to improving the article Wallonia, it may help to refer more clearly to e.g. Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium and State reform in Belgium for its institutional history; those pages could explain it more clearly in its historical and political context. Belgian federal entities are extremely similiar institutionally anyway. SPQRobin (talk) 19:01, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

I really don't see how the Flemish Region is different; Wallonia also has the French Community. I do think you make a good point about Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium and State reform in Belgium being better pages for the detail I was defending. I suppose that changes my position to support. Oreo Priest ^talk 20:22, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

The difference with the French Community is made clear by the name they give themselves: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Unlike Flanders, which is in fact one entity based on two institutional entities, the French Community is an entity consisting of Wallonia one the one hand and French-speaking Brussels on the other hand. SPQRobin (talk) 21:02, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

This is just semantics, because we agree on the main point of course, but Flanders is also the region, plus partial jurisdiction in Brussels, same as their French speaking counterparts. Oreo Priest ^talk 14:02, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

The French Community and Walloon Region are not merged. The Flemish Community and Region are.--Wester (talk) 23:08, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

Since we agree on merging the two pages, and nobody else voiced his opposition meanwhile, I redirected Walloon Region (federal region) to Wallonia and will make some improvements to the latter article. SPQRobin (talk) 21:44, 27 May 2013 (UTC)

Meaningless sentence in lead

• Contrary to the situation in Flanders, the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium, a political level responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education.

1. Was not merged by whom, when, as part of what?
2. A political level of what?
3. "Contrary to the situation in Flanders": does this mean that Flanders was merged with the French Community of Belgium?

The only vague hint at an answer that I can find in the article is the short sentence at the end of the History section beginning "This led to State reform in Belgium..." Clicking any of the links in the lead or the article proper doesn't help, because the linked articles are even more confusing than this one. Possibly what that sentence is trying to say is that the Walloon Region is not coterminous with the French Community, in the way that the Flemish region is coterminous with the Flemish Community; I don't know. It needs to be either fixed or deleted. Scolaire (talk) 12:33, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Use of English translations without native language term inline

Whenever a proper name has been translated or exists with more than one language version, the native language version should be given inline on the first mention, in italics. (Do not publish my IP under any circumstances, this means you.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.101.157.18 (talk) 10:35, 22 January 2022 (UTC)

Researching my favorite flower

I don't understand why Wallonia is the symbolism for the Indian blanket flower. Also known as Gaillardia. Can anyone help me out? 174.247.224.238 (talk) 04:47, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Region & Community

"Although in Flanders, the Flemish Region assigned all of its powers to the Flemish Community, the Walloon Region remains in principle distinct from and independent from the French Community, and vice versa."

Is there an explanation as to why this is? I've never seen it explained, and it would be an interesting and helpful piece of information to add. In that same vein, I've woundered that since the French Community Parliament is essentially juse the Walloon Parliament + Brussels Parlimanet members why the current (and out-going) governments of the region and community are chaired by different political parties? If the community parliament and government is decided after regional elections, you'd expect at least the same party to chair both institutions, right? Criticalthinker (talk) 09:55, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

I've read the french-language article on the French Community of Belgium, but I'm still not clear on why it's been so much more controversial for the community and region to merge governments than it was for Flanders. Which "side" is opposed to the idea? Anyone have any good articles on the conflict? Because as a layman not from the region and country, it's hard to understand. Perhaps explaining how the cultural community institutions differ between the French-speakers and Dutch-speakers in Brussels might help?

Criticalthinker (talk) 11:48, 9 August 2024 (UTC)