His Majesty the King once again received Bart De Wever in audience on Wednesday at the Royal Palace in Brussels. The president of the N-VA made a first report to the King on the progress of his information mission with a view to the formation of a next government. The royal informant will report again on Wednesday June 26.
At this stage, the N-VA teams are not allowing anything to filter through to the exchanges between their boss and the King of the Belgians. We have just learned from the tape that Bart De Wever consulted the presidents of the parties expected to form the future federal government, Arizona made up of the MR, the Engagés, the CD&V and Vooruit.
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We knew that one of the major points of friction between these parties concerns the financing of health care. Liberals and nationalists hope to recover several billions by revising the economic functioning of this sector. On the side of the Christian social family and the Flemish socialists, there is no question of touching this social aspect. At least, at this introductory stage of the negotiations, it is important for them to show that they will do everything possible to defend this aspect. This is why they are suggesting that they will not join an executive until health is protected by a government agreement.
On Wednesday morning, the European Commission came to put its two cents in by announcing what the nationalists had been announcing for months. The European Commission noted on Wednesday that an excessive deficit procedure would be justified against Belgium and six other Member States (France, Italy, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia), exposing them to a structural reduction of their net spending of at least 0.5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) each year.
This announcement will be the subject of an opinion before the end of June from the Economic and Financial Committee of the EU, then of a formal proposal from the Commission to the Member States, who will decide on July 16 in “Ecofin”. This demand for austerity will guide negotiations at all levels of power, at the federal level as well as in the federated entities. The question that arises today is to know which sectors will undergo restructuring to align with the new requirements for responsible financial management proclaimed by the operators of future governments.
On Wednesday, Sammy Mahdi, the president of the CD&V, stressed that it was of little interest in his eyes to bring the PS back into the equation. But for French-speaking socialists, Belgium’s budgetary situation and the cuts it portends are such that it is difficult to see why they would tire themselves out trying to defend government policies when they could quietly savor the grapes of anger who rumbles.
