Last week, Eva De Bleeker told Le Soir that she did not want to serve as a spare tire for Arizona. But since the latter has been standing still, the idea of replacing Vooruit at the table of government shapers no longer seems to displease her.
The liberal family, the first force in the kern?
For now, the center-right bloc still believes it is possible to form an alliance with Vooruit. But the MR would not mind replacing the socialists with their sister party. “You can take your horse to the river, you can’t make him drink.”summarized President Georges-Louis Bouchez on Terzake about the refusal of his counterpart Conner Rousseau.
With the VLD on board, the Liberals would form the first family at the federal level. It would rely on 27 seats in the Chamber, against 24 for the N-VA. The MR would not claim the seat of Prime Minister, but it could obtain more important seats in the government and have more influence in future negotiations. Let us remember that at the KERN, the committee of deputy prime ministers, we count heads in its camp. Decisions go in the direction of whoever receives the most support. Under Vivaldi, the balance of power was sometimes 6 to 1. To make it bend, you have to have a maximum of weight on your side.
N-VA and CD&V not very interested
It remains to convince the N-VA and the CD&V. With the VLD in its paws, the N-VA would lose a little of its weight. And above all, it would no longer have a mirror coalition with Flanders. On Monday, during the program “De Tafel van Gert”, Conner Rousseau affirmed that if the negotiations were only settled between him and Bart De Wever, the matter would have already been closed.
The Engagés and the CD&V are also not delighted with the idea of taking on board the Vlaams Liberalen. With fewer socialists, the centrists would inherit the progressive label of the team. It would be up to them to take on the criticism coming from the left. Then there is the interpersonal. The cohabitation between the Open VLD and the CD&V clearly deteriorated in the last hours of the Vivaldi, as evidenced by this statement from President Sammy Mahdi to De Afspraak, Monday evening: “A federal government with Open VLD is non-negotiable for us.”
Ok, but without De Croo
One solution could be to seek out Koen Geens as a minesweeper to smooth out the corners. Vincent Houssiau, chief of staff to the King and former chief of staff to Geens, could suggest this idea to the monarch. The former Minister of Justice in Sweden could facilitate the invitation of Eva De Bleeker to the negotiating table. But with one condition: do not take Alexander De Croo.
Did Alexander De Croo lie about the budget? Messages exchanged with Eva De Bleeker revealed
The outgoing Prime Minister is blacklisted by the N-VA, the CD&V and… his own party. Plummeting in the polls, the liberal is no longer popular among the Blue Flemish people. He is also in harsh conflict with Eva De Bleeker due to friction that occurred at the beginning of July. When the former Secretary of State for the Budget was hesitant about launching himself as a candidate for the presidency of the party, Alexander De Croo called him to tell him not to do so. This injunction went so badly that as soon as the conversation was over, she picked up her phone to announce to VTM that she was running.
The one who was sometimes nicknamed internally the “Joan of Arc” of the VLD also has certain sympathies of the N-VA since she was ejected from the Vivaldi for having, according to the nationalists’ reading, daring to tell the truth about the budgetary reality in October 2022. The enemies of some are sometimes the friends of others…
Promote the parliamentary function
There remains the question of the small majority. With 76 seats out of 150, it would be enough for one MP to be missing for the majority to face a legislative deadlock. “But it would be an opportunity to promote the job of parliamentarian”smiles a liberal. “Under Vivaldi, certain deputies sometimes took the function a little lightly. There, there could be a slogan to demand that the deputies do their work seriously.”
