The Socialist Party (PS) is withdrawing on Monday from the Brussels-Capital Region Government formation talks, stating that the conditions to take part in the negotiations "are no longer in place."
Until now, PS formed a majority on the French-speaking side with liberal MR and centrist Les Engagés. On the Dutch-speaking side, ecologist Groen, rightwing N-VA, liberal Open VLD and socialist Vooruit are supposed to form a majority.
"The conditions are no longer in place to participate in the negotiations for the formation of a new Brussels Government. This is why we are leaving the negotiating table," the party's Brussels branch announced after a meeting on Monday afternoon.
Threatens local policies
PS quit the negotiations due to the Dutch speaking parties "starting note" – their initial demands – which contained a number of institutional proposals, such as the merger of Brussels police zones, municipalities and social welfare services.
"The institutional balance of the Brussels-Capital Region and the interests of French speakers," PS said on Monday. "The intentions of this document threaten the local policies of the municipalities in terms of prevention, security and social cohesion."
Last week, Van den Brandt finally got a majority on track on the Dutch-speaking side, but PS was highly critical of N-VA's presence in the coalition. However, the leaked "starting note" resulted in anger on the French-speaking side, partly because it mentioned a merger of the 19 Brussels municipalities.
Groen's Elke Van den Brandt. Credit: belga/ David Stockman
On Monday morning, Brussels MP Martin Casier had rejected Van den Brandt's note, saying that it contained "institutional and community discussions that we as PS have not wanted for 20 years." For the French-speaking socialists, the discussion should be held at the federal level.
Casier has called N-VA "nationalist, racist and Islamophobic" – even though he did stress that the socialists were not vetoing the specific participation of N-VA.
After the June regional elections, MR and Les Engagés had decided to look for a majority on the French-speaking side to enter the Brussels Government. While PS leader Paul Magnette declared that the French-speaking socialists would go into opposition at all levels, news later came that PS was ready to enter a Brussels Government. However, this now seems uncertain.
