Walloons feel firstly Belgian, is the result of “Social barometer of Wallonia” carried out by Iweps (Institut wallon de l’évaluation, de la prospective et de la statistique), presented Thursday in La Libre Belgique.
81% of respondents of the survey stated that they feel they belong to Belgium and 90% are proud of being Belgian. 52% consider themselves as much francophone as Walloon, 15% only francophone and 6% only Walloon.
Close to one in four respondents considers him or herself “very proud” of being Walloon, and close to one in five “rather proud”. “Here the situation is one of belonging which is strong but not exclusive,” stated Sébastien Brunet, General Manager of Iweps.
Finally, the study indicates that 40% of Walloons are in favour, or somewhat in favour, of greater autonomy for the regions of the country, but they are on the other hand strongly opposed (93%) to the division of the country.
The “barometer” surveyed 1,400 Walloon citizens in person.
