![[Flag of the French Community]](../images/b/be-fr.gif)
Last modified: 2006-01-14 by ivan sache
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Flag of the French Community - Images by Mark Sensen, 13 July 2001
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The French Community has the jurisdiction on the Walloon provinces, excluding the German-speaking Community, and on the region of Brussels-Capital.
Within the French Community, the legislative power is exercized by the Council of the French Community (Conseil de la Communauté Française, 94 elected Councillors) and the Government of the French Community (a Minister-President and no more than seven Ministers), whereas the executive power is exercized by the Government of the French Community.
The competences of the Council and the Government of the French-speaking Community are defined by the Federal Consitution of Belgium, adopted on 17 February 1994.
Ivan Sache, 28 November 2004
The French Community officially adopted the traditional Walloon flag as its flag on 3 July 1991.
The flag of the French Community shall be flown on 27 September (French Community day) on the public buildings of the Walloon Region. It shall also be flown on the official buildings in the same conditions and on the same days as the Belgian national flag. In the bilingual Region of Brussels-Capital, the flag shall be flown on 27 September on the public buildings that exclusively belong to the French Community.
Pascal Vagnat, 17 May 1996
In the beginning of the XXth century, the Walloon Assembly (that is the assembly of the Walloon Movement [Mouvement Wallon], not the assembly of a Walloon Region or
Community, which did not exist at that time), decided to
adopt an emblem for Wallonia. Several symbols were proposed, including
the perron of Liège, a
star, a rooster, a lark, a bull, a wildboar, a squirrel... The pun on
the Latin name of the rooster (gallus) and of the inhabitant of Gaul
(Gallus) was already popular.
The Walloon Assembly decreed (16 March/20 April 1913):
La Wallonie adopte le coq rouge sur fond jaune, cravate aux couleurs nationales belges. L'histoire glorieuse de la Principaute de Liège, faite de luttes pour les libertés (Charte de Huy, Paix de Fexhe, perron, déclaration des droits de l'homme du Congrès de Polleur...) inspire les couleurs, le cri et la devise: le coq hardi de gueules sur or, avec le cri "Liberté" et la devise "Wallon toujours!"Wallonia shall adopt [as its emblem] the red rooster on a yellow backgroung, with a cravate of the Belgian national colours. The glorious history of the principality of Liège, made of struggle for freedom (Chart of Huy, Peace of Fexhe, perron, declaration of the human rights by the Congress of Polleur...) inspires the colours, the [war] cry and the motto: or the bold rooster gules, with the cry "Freedom" and the motto "Walloon forever!"
Paul Pastur asked the painter Pierre Paulus to design the emblem. Paulus' design was adopted on 3 July 1913 by an artistic commission. The emblem was officially recognized on 28 July 1975 by a decree of the Conseil culturel de la Communauté Française.
Source: Official website of the Walloon Region
The proportion of the flag was 1:1 (square flag), according to Yves Moreau: La génèse du drapeau wallon (Enquêtes du musée de la vie wallonne, Tome XVI, 63ème-64ème années, N°185-188. 1987).The Decree of 20 July 1975 prescribed the flag of the French Cultural Community (Communauté culturelle française, the forerunner of the French Community) The law mentioned also a Community day.
The Decree of 3 July 1991, published in the Belgian official gazette on 15 November 1991, prescribed the emblems of the French Community, which had replaced the French Cultural Community. The law text includes official pictures (black and white) for the flag (2:3), arms (Or a bold rooster gules) and seal, and specifications concerning the position of the rooster in the flag:
Le coq hardi est inscrit dans un cercle non apparent dont le centre coïncide avec celui du tablier, dont le diamètre est égal au guindant et dont la circonférence passe par les extrémités des pennes supérieures et inférieures de la queue et par l'extrémité de la patte levée. L'horizontalité du coq est déterminé par une droite non apparente joignant le sommet de sa crète à l'extrémité de la penne supérieure de la queue.
Unofficial translation by Bill Thayer, 19 May 1996
The bold rooster shall be inscribed in an invisible circle, the center of which is the same as the center of the field, the diameter of which is equal to the hoist and the circumference of which goes through the tips of the upper and lower feathers of the tail and the tip of the raised foot. The horizontality of the rooster shall be determined by an invisible straight line from the top of the crest to the tip of the upper feather of the tail.
There is also a standard for the high authorities of the Community. It is yellow with the red rooster, red and yellow fringed and has the proportions 26:30 (cm).
Mark Sensen, Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 19 June 2004
![[Construction sheet for the flag]](../images/b/be'fr.gif)
Construction sheet for the flag - Image by Mark Sensen, 3 July 2001, after pictures attached to the 1991 Decree