[Cerrado] WPML hreflang configuration for multi-country language targeting

Hello WPML Support Team,

I have configured my webshop with WPML and translated the site into the following languages:

Dutch (default)

German

French

Currently, the setup is:

German → Germany

French → France

In addition, I would like to target these regions with the same language versions:

French version should also target Belgium (Wallonia)

Dutch version should also target Belgium (Flanders)

German version should also target Austria

My main questions are:

What is the recommended WPML configuration for this scenario?

Should I use language-only hreflang tags (e.g. fr, de, nl) or language + region combinations (e.g. fr-FR, fr-BE, de-DE, de-AT)?

If language + region is recommended:

Should I create separate WPML languages (e.g. fr-FR and fr-BE) even if the content is identical?

Or can WPML output multiple hreflang references pointing to the same URL?

How does WPML handle canonical URLs and hreflang generation in this case to avoid duplicate content issues?

Are there best practices regarding Google Search Console setup (separate properties per region vs. language-only)?

My goal is to ensure Google clearly understands the intended language and regional targeting, while maintaining clean SEO signals and avoiding unnecessary duplication.

Looking forward to your technical guidance on the best-practice setup.

Kind regards,
[Your Name]