Belgium will spend Christmas without a full government, King Philippe having noted on Friday the need to extend negotiations between the five parties who have been trying for six months to form a majority coalition.
In the morning, the leader of the Flemish conservatives (N-VA), Bart De Wever, had yet another meeting with the sovereign to inform him about the progress of his “trainer” mission. The current mayor of Antwerp is tipped to become the future Prime Minister.
His mission was extended until January 7, a sign that it still takes at least two weeks to succeed. “The king told the trainer that he hoped for a decisive breakthrough in early 2025,” according to the royal palace.
The N-VA won the June 9 elections in Flanders, managing to defy polls which predicted that the Vlaams Belang (far right) would dislodge it from its place as the leading party in the most populous Belgian region.
For six and a half months, its president Bart De Wever has been negotiating a government agreement with two other Flemish parties, Vooruit (socialists) and the CD&V (Christian Democrats), and the two winners of the elections on the Walloon side, the Reform Movement (MR, liberals) and the Engagés (centrists). The five parties together represent 81 of the 150 seats of deputies in the Chamber.
But discussions have so far stalled on budgetary issues, while Bart De Wever estimates that Belgium must release at least 20 billion euros to clean up its public finances and get back on track with Europe. Belgium is one of the EU countries targeted by an excessive deficit procedure.
The debate between the five parties concerns in particular the choice of sectors in which to make savings (health, asylum policy, etc.) and probable compensation through new taxes.
Georges-Louis Bouchez, president of the MR, refuses any increase in tax pressure, believing that the country is “the most taxed in the world”. Flemish socialists and centrists insist on preserving health care from the federal system.
According to the newspaper The eveningnegotiations will continue during the holiday period, in particular to “draw up the budgetary table” for the future majority.
The federal state nevertheless has a budget for the 1st quarter of 2025. The Chamber of Deputies voted on the night of Thursday to Friday on a finance bill consisting of releasing one twelfth of the latest budget month by month. The practice known as “provisional twelfths” to ensure the continuity of state public services is usual under a government in day-to-day affairs.
