The Walloon government will not abolish the provinces but will significantly limit their scope of action

Except that very quickly, constitutionalists denounced the unconstitutional nature of such a strategy. Indeed, a popular consultation cannot concern a reform whose vote in Parliament requires a two-thirds majority.

Aware of the problem, the members of the Walloon government nevertheless maintain this idea. So what form will this popular consultation take?

Respect for the Constitution

Questioned by the leader of the Ecolo group, Stéphane Hazée, in the Walloon parliament committee, the Minister of Local Authorities, François Desquesnes (Les Engagés) dodged the issue. “There is no question of violating the constitutional requirement. The popular consultation will be prepared in strict compliance with our fundamental law,” he simply said.

The minister’s response did not really convince the MP since he described it as “Normand’s answer”.

Interview with François Desquesnes

The Free had questioned François Desquesnes on this same subject, but the passage in question could not be used in the interview finally published, due to lack of space. This is what the minister told us: “If we want to touch on the political aspect, this requires a two-thirds majority. But there is another aspect. It is the one that concerns the limits that the Region sets on the activity of the provincial body, and our desire is to do this in dialogue with each province.”

The minister therefore intends to ask the provinces to participate by answering this question in particular: “Where do you think the effectiveness of citizen service is greatest?

The minister himself adds another layer by maintaining that if the provinces are overwhelmed, this is not the case for certain missions.In our view, this political body is outdated. However, we could enter into a contract with each province and translate their missions into a decree. This could include the maintenance of waterways for one, support for cultural offerings for another, support for tourist activity for another, etc. All within a limited framework with regulated financial autonomy.”.

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Little Switzerland

By acting in this way, the constitution is respected, according to Desquesnes.The Constitution and the special laws allow us to do this. That is what the Flemish have done. Each province has its own powers and cannot levy an additional property tax beyond a certain threshold.” In the future, therefore, provincial finances will be tightened.

The minister also specifies that when the popular consultation is launched, he would like it to cover issues other than the provinces, without saying more yet and specifying that this is mainly the will of his party and that it is not in the Regional Policy Declaration. His model is a ““Swiss-style vote where several questions are asked, including one on the provinces”.

In a few years, will Wallonia become a little Switzerland? Who knows?