The Flemish Government formator Matthias Diependaele (N-VA) announced he had a "fine first meeting" with party leaders Melissa Depraetere (Vooruit) and Sammy Mahdi (cd&v) on Thursday afternoon. The formal negotiations will start next week.
Among other things, the three agreed on working arrangements for further negotiations to form the Flemish Government. On Friday at 11:00, the central negotiating team of the three parties will scrutinise the "budgetary starting position."
"In the course of the next week, the formal negotiations will start," said Diependaele. From then on, the expanded delegations – with Vooruit's Conner Rousseau and Caroline Gennez and CD&V's Jo Brouns and Hilde Crevits – will be present as well.
After Diependaele's appointment as "formator" of the Flemish Government on Wednesday, Vooruit and CD&V were positive about the quick start of the formation negotiations. After the 2019 elections, it took until 12 August before a Flemish formator was appointed. This time, it was only ten days after the elections.
"We are happy about the swiftness of everything, but that does not mean the negotiations will be a walk in the park, everyone will fight for their share," a Vooruit source told Belga News Agency.
While several politicians have wondered aloud whether the Flemish Government could be formed in time for the official holiday of the Flemish Region on 11 July, experts believe that it is unlikely that the three parties will be able to hammer out and agree on a coalition text in just three weeks.
