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Originally Posted by Cirrus
Maybe, but I wonder if an independant Wallonia would be viable.
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Clearly it wouldn't. Even with Flemish financial transfers it is not economically viable. Only a big state like France could solve the Wallonian problem.
By the way, it is interesting to notice that even in 1945 many Wallonians asked France to annex their region, but de Gaulle refused it for legal and political reasons :
"A number of Walloons had already asked me to annex the region at the end of the war. I did not wish to pursue their approach further. In 1945, it was important to respect the frontiers bequeathed to us by history, except for the frontiers of the defeated nations. This is what was done. Belgium must not be touched. But we see no reason why the Walloons should not organise to defend their language and their culture, to prevent the Flemish from trampling over them. Or else the Flemish would have to make life impossible for the Walloons, and the Walloons would then have to throw themselves into our arms. Above all, we must not make a move. It would be far too easy to accuse us of wishing to round out our borders at the expense of Belgium."
"I know very well that after the Liberation I had only to snap my fingers for Wallonia to demand its attachment to France. It was my belief, however, that it was not for me to snap my fingers. The Walloons or their legitimate representatives would have needed to take the initiative. France did not have a debt to pay as it did to Canada. At one point, I had thought of making a trip that would have started in Ghent, stopping off at Dinant where I was wounded in 1914, then on to Namur, capital of Wallonia, after which I would have travelled down the Meuse to Ličge, said by Michelet to be more French than France itself. It would have been like the Chemin du Roy in Canada. But I resisted the temptation.
Take note that as soon as I returned to office one of my first initiatives was to invite the King and Queen of Belgium. The invitation was never returned. No doubt the fears of popular disturbances in Wallonia were too great."
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I had received a delegation from the Walloons, determined to prepare for attachment to France. The delegation explained that the Flemish were becoming increasingly arrogant and would probably end by themselves seceding. That may be how it will all end.
Wallonia exists, but there is no Walloon nation, the Walloons have never sought to become a state. Their request is to be included in the French Republic, to which they already once belonged. It is quite different from seeking emancipation, as do the people of Quebec, from Anglo-Saxon domination.
Many Walloons believe they would receive better treatment from France than from Flanders. That is probably the case.
As part of France, they would rediscover the pride of belonging to a great nation, pride in their language and culture, a taste for taking part in the great affairs of the world and for fighting in the name of the great human causes.
All these things they have lost through their unnatural association, imposed by the English, with the Flemish who dislike them and whom they dislike. In the interests of the unity of Belgium, the differences between them have been smoothed over. They are frustrated by this."
Interview between General de Gaulle and Alain Peyrefitte, 10 November 1965,
Alain Peyrefitte, C'était de Gaulle