Representatives of the five French-speaking parties met on Monday to discuss the political situation in Brussels Region at the invitation of formateur David Leisterh (Mouvement Réformateur).
Not all party presidents attended, though, and negotiations appeared to be at a standstill.
On Friday, Leisterh and MR President Georges-Louis Bouchez issued a press invitation to the presidents of the French-speaking parties to discuss the future of Brussels, particularly in terms of its institutions, and break the deadlock in regional negotiations.
Following the formation of a majority including the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) on the Flemish side, the Parti Socialiste (PS) left the table. Ecolo, for its part, does not wish to join a Francophone majority, while DéFI is subject to intense internal tensions.
Late on Sunday afternoon, the various presidents received an invitation to meet at 8.30 a.m. on Monday. Not everyone turned up. For Ecolo, it was Brussels leader Zakia Khattabi who made the trip rather than co-President Marie Lecocq. At the PS, the president of the Brussels branch, Ahmed Laaouej, represented his party, as he has done since the start of the discussions. Paul Magnette was absent.
For Les Engagés, Maxime Prévot was unable to attend due to a scheduling problem; regional leader Christophe De Beukelaer was therefore present.
DéFI was represented by three members: President Sophie Rohonyi, faction leader in the Brussels Parliament Jonathan de Patoul, and regional minister Bernard Clerfayt.
"Discussions will continue over the next few days," Mr Leisterh said during an interview with RTL-TVi.
For the moment, everyone seems to be sticking to their guns. "After seven months without a government, we cannot call it a success," the formateur admitted. "We have to recognise that there are real blockages with people who do not want to come to the table if others are there on the Dutch-speaking side," he noted in an evident reference to the PS.
"This is perhaps proof that Brussels is difficult to govern and that reforms will be necessary," he added.
The four Dutch-speaking parties that are expected to form the Flemish wing of the future Brussels majority - Groen, Vooruit, Open Vld and N-VA - are advocating a merger of municipalities, public centres for social welfare and police areas.
On Friday, MR President Bouchez warned his French-speaking counterparts that if the French-speaking parties in Brussels do not realise the need to simplify the region's institutions, others will think of it for them in the federal negotiations.
Not everyone was convinced by this plea. At the end of the meeting, the PS and DéFI referred to a problem of "method." DéFI demanded a working paper on the region's socio-economic and budgetary emergencies. The Socialists were clear: at a time of Audi Brussels closures and soaring rents, the priority is not institutional, and the veto against the N-VA remains in place.
Neither party closed the door to discussions on simplifying the institutional landscape of Brussels, but both imposed conditions: "not according to Flemish demands," said DéFI; "as long as they guarantee the institutional integrity of the region and the municipalities," according to the PS.
"There is an urgent need for us to take a leap of faith," Maxime Prévot (Les Engages) said on Sunday. "As long as we show that Brussels is unmanageable, we shall be fuelling its very real need for institutional reform, and the equally very real risk of its autonomous governance being called into question."
In Brussels Parliament, Ecolo is ready to support institutional reforms, but will remain in opposition.
"The logic of winners at the table ... must also prevail in Brussels... but I see that things are not progressing any more on one side than on the other," Zakia Khattabi remarked.
David Leisterh has made it clear that he will remain in his post as formateur, despite a suggestion by Vooruit that he appoint a mediator, and the fear, voiced by some party members, that MR will suffer damage by treading water.
