“You can be tough, but you can't play the man.” CD&V chairman Sammy Mahdi asked everyone at the start of a new round of federal negotiations on Monday afternoon to treat each other respectfully. The Christmas spirit must have been contagious, because the meeting lasted until the early hours on Monday.
Formateur Bart De Wever (N-VA) had an end-of-year present: a new version of his socio-economic memorandum, which he had already sent on Saturday to the negotiators of his Arizona coalition of N-VA, Vooruit, CD&V, MR and Les Engagés. This time no one ran away screaming.
That would have happened last Friday, when MR chairman Georges-Louis Bouchez strongly criticized Vincent Van Peteghem and Sammy Mahdi of CD&V, but also against Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau. Bouchez wants to reintroduce a favorable tax regime for software developers, while Van Peteghem had just closed that loophole in the previous legislature. For example, Bouchez took a frustration from Vivaldi with him to Arizona. Last weekend a break was needed to cool down, because “Bouchez had completely spoiled the atmosphere with his shouting and ranting.”
Taxcut
Things went smoothly again on Monday: the labor market chapter was already completed once. There are still serious points for discussion on that subject – just like in the field of pensions – but for the time being the negotiators have only given their own views, without really entering into a discussion. Consumer issues and purchasing power were also discussed, after which the hot topic was back on the table: taxation.
The MR is surprised at the way in which Bouchez received opposition on Friday. “Those Flemish parties simply cannot handle a right-wing liberal French-speaking chairman who fights against taxes,” says John Hendrickx, Bouchez's spokesman. “While no Flemish wants taxes.” It is not the first time that the MR has pointed out that there is still room for a right-wing liberal party in Flanders, now that sister party Open VLD is in the ropes. At the beginning of July, Bouchez said he was thinking about a merger between MR and Open VLD.
The MR still wants a tax cut, not a mere tax shift. For a party like Vooruit, a significant contribution must come from the larger powers. The key question now is whether the new socio-economic memorandum manages to reconcile both wishes. De Wever took a two-day break on Monday evening, before resuming work on Thursday. At the Christmas dinner, negotiators can consider whether the bill provides sufficient food and drinks and whether the star is favorable for the Arizona coalition.
