The French Community Parliament (Parlement de la Communauté Française de Belgique) was established on 7 December 1971. Since 2011, it is named the 'Parliament of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels' (Parlement de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles) on all public communication issued by the Parliament. However, the constitutional terminology remains unchanged, i.e. 'French Community Parliament'.

Number of Members of Parliament

 94


Length of the parliamentary mandate
Five years.

Mode of selection of the Members of Parliament
It is composed of 75 members of the Walloon Parliament and 19 members from the French language group of the Brussels-Capital Region Parliament. For further information, see here (EN). 

Population included in the constituency of the regional parliament  
Approx. 4,3 million inhabitants.

1. Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
2. List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament 
3. Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
4. Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny  
5. Subsidiarity check
6. Cooperation/coordination at the regional level  
7. Cooperation/coordination at the central level  
8. Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level 
9. Cooperation/coordination at the EU level 

Non-legislative:
The Parliament exercises political control vis-à-vis the regional Executive by means of verbal and written questions and appeals to ministers or by voting on motions of confidence. The Parliament may also establish committees of inquiry. Legal bases: the Special Act of 8 August 1980 on Institutional Reform and the Decree of 12 June 1981 laying down the procedure for inquiry.

List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament  
There are seven Standing Committees:

• Committee for Culture, Audio-visual Matters, Aid to the press, Film, Health and Equal Opportunities;
• Committee for Higher Education;
• Committee for Youth and Youth Care;
• Committee for Finance, Accounting, Budget and Sports;
• Committee for International Relations and European Affairs, General Affairs and Regulations, Computer, Communication Control of Ministers and Election Expenses;
• Committee for Childhood, Research, Public Services and School Construction;
• Committee for Basic Education.

In addition, Specific Committees have been established. For further information, see http://www.pfwb.be/le-travail-du-parlement/commissions (FR).

Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity  
Committee for International Relations and European Affairs, General Affairs and Regulations, Computer, Communication Control of Ministers and Election Expenses. 

Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny  
In January 2009, the Parliament established a unit responsible for European affairs in the Study, Documentation and European Affairs Directorate. Subsidiarity monitoring is dealt with by the legal advisor and the secretary of the directorate. The European Affairs Unit acts as the secretariat of the Committee for International Relations and European Affairs when the latter is dealing with European issues. 

Subsidiarity check  
Nature (selective/systematic): Selective.  

Procedure: Pursuant to a recent modification of Article 31 of the rules of procedure of the Parliament (http://www.pfwb.be/le-travail-du-parlement/doc-et-pub/reglement-du-parlement (FR)), the Committee for International Relations and European Affairs shall appoint a 'Euro-promoter' who will, in collaboration with the European Affairs Unit, be in charge of monitoring European affairs. The Unit examines the EU draft legislation and proposes a selection of documents depending on what is most relevant at the time and whether the community level has responsibility for the issue. The Unit may write an explanatory note or legal note on the compatibility with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. Along with these notes, all legislative documents and consultative documents relevant to the competences of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels are sent to the members of the Committee. Upon request of a member of the Committee, the issue is put on the agenda of the Committee. Upon request of one third of its members, the Committee charges the 'Euro-promoter', within a fixed time-limit, to formulate a draft opinion on inter alia the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The Committee may adopt a reasoned opinion on these issues. This opinion is printed and distributed as a parliamentary document. The Conference of Presidents of the Parliament may adopt the opinion or decide to put it on the agenda of a plenary assembly. The opinion – adopted by the Conference of Presidents or by the plenary assembly – is addressed by the President of the Parliament to the Secretariat of the Conference of Presidents.

Cooperation/coordination at the regional level  

The administrative staff of the parliament hopes to work more closely with the Regional Executive as the executive has information and expertise in all the fields in which the administration will have to carry out subsidiarity checks.

Cooperation/coordination at the central level 
In 2008, the Belgian parliamentary assemblies (at federal, regional and community level) drafted an inter-parliamentary cooperation agreement organising the participation of the regional and community parliaments in the application of the subsidiarity scrutiny mechanism. This agreement has been blocked because of persisting legal and political difficulties, and accordingly, has not yet entered into force. However, the relevant institutions generally apply it de facto in concrete situations. The regional parliaments automatically receive all legislative proposals and consultation documents of the European Commission through the Senate, with no selection or priority-setting. Each parliament can separately and autonomously examine whether the legislative proposal respects the principle of subsidiarity. A system of vote distribution is established, i.e., the two Belgian subsidiarity votes are divided between the federal and the regional levels. There is no need for a consensus on a 'level basis' to make use of the subsidiarity vote. As soon as one chamber (at the federal level) considers a legislative proposal to be in breach of the subsidiarity principle, at least one subsidiarity vote is 'activated'. Furthermore, if (at least) one parliament at the regional/community level has the same opinion, the second subsidiarity vote is also used. All reasoned opinions of the seven parliaments, together with the subsidiarity votes, are sent to the European Commission on behalf of the Belgian parliamentary system, making it clear which opinion has been given by which parliament. For the so-called exclusive legislative proposals (concerning exclusively federal or regional/community competences), the competent level controls the two Belgian subsidiarity votes. Once again, no consensus is needed; it is enough for two regional/community parliaments with a different linguistic status (e.g. the Flemish Parliament (Dutch speaking) and the Walloon Parliament (French speaking)) to consider that a proposal infringes the principle of subsidiarity, to trigger the two Belgian subsidiarity votes in the Early Warning System.  

Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level 
See the answer to the previous point. 

Cooperation/coordination at the EU level  
The Parliament is a member of CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies). Moreover, the Parliament has contacts with the Committee of the Regions. Otherwise there is no real cooperation/coordination at the EU Level.