The Open VLD does not exclude entering the federal government: “We do not want to play therapist between Conner Rousseau and Bart de Wever”
Egbert Lachaert, the leader of the Open Vld group in the Flemish Parliament, is not closing the door to his party’s participation in the next federal government
Published on 06/11/2024 at 3:58 p.m.
But first the parties currently negotiating must formulate a “serious” and “clear” request, he declared on Wednesday on the TV show Villa Politica (VRT). “We don’t want to play couples therapist between Conner Rousseau and Bart De Wever. »
On Monday, trainer Bart De Wever submitted his resignation to the King, after Vooruit refused to enter into negotiations if a new socio-economic note was not submitted. The sovereign is holding his decision under advisement and has granted the president of the N-VA a week to conduct consultations.
Since then, an idea has been circulating, that of replacing the socialists of Vooruit with the liberals of Open Vld. This coalition would have a majority of just one seat in the House, or 76 out of 150. In addition, it would not have a majority in the Dutch language group.
The Flemish liberals suffered a heavy defeat in the elections of June 9 and the party of the outgoing Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, was destined for an opposition cure.
But the new president Eva De Bleeker, in place since August, has since opened the door ajar.
For his part, Egbert Lachaert, former president of the party, sets a prerequisite: that a “serious and clear” request be formulated. “We can’t formally close the door, because we never know what will happen. If the rating agencies downgrade our country’s rating, if the budget continues to derail and if Europe calls us to order, we will have to discuss constructively. I don’t know what the demand is. Let’s see what these four parties (N-VA, CD&V, MR and Les Engagés) really want and what they are offering us. “.
But Eva De Bleeker, president of the Open VLD, who has only led the party since August, has already left the door ajar. Former president Egbert Lachaert stressed on Villa Politica on Wednesday that there would first need to be a “clear demand” from the other parties. “Arizona is by far the most logical coalition,” he said. But “we cannot formally close the door, because we never know what will happen. If the rating agencies downgrade our country, if the budget goes off the rails again and if Europe calls on us, we will have to speak constructively somewhere. But today I really don’t know what the question is. Let’s see what these four parties really want, and what question they pose to us.
