N-VA party leader and federal formator Bart De Wever is meeting King Philippe on Tuesday to update him on yet another failed attempt to form a Federal Government. What hope is there for Belgium's 'Arizona' coalition?
Bart De Wever (N-VA), who is leading talks to form a Federal Government, has another meeting with King Philippe on Tuesday. After several failed attempts to form a government, De Wever offered his resignation as formator on 4 November but the King renewed his deadline until 12 November.
The Flemish socialist party Vooruit is the only left-leaning party among right-wing negotiating partners N-VA, Les Engagés, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) and CD&V. However, the socialists have now opted to leave discussions as they are the only party to reject De Wever's socio-economic 'supernote' out of the prospective Arizona coalition.
Vooruit party leader Conner Rousseau believes that the supernote does not impose hefty enough wealth taxes (capitals gains tax) and relies instead on tax breaks for certain brackets.
Instead, Vooruit is advocating a "budget first" government. "It is absolutely necessary to draw up a budget and implement fair reforms as a matter of urgency," said outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit).
'Sense of impasse and harm done'
De Wever acknowledged that "there is a sense of impasse and harm done" around the negotiating table, but he has not given up hope on the Arizona coalition. "The question is how to best heal these wounds," he told VRT on Tuesday morning.
Arizona negotiators met on Tuesday morning ahead of the formator's visit to the Royal Palace. Vooruit's position has provoked frustration among other federal negotiators, who say Arizona is the only viable option.
"Either it is Arizona, or it is an option with Open VLD. Everything else is completely impossible," MR party leader Georges-Louis Bouchez said last week.
Vooruit's Conner Rousseau arrives for Federal Government talks in Brussels on Sunday 18 August 2024. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
Having walked away from negotiations, Vooruit risks being replaced by MR's Dutch-speaking counterpart Open VLD. But the Flemish liberals performed poorly in June and swore against entering government at the time.
A government composed of N-VA, MR, Les Engagés, CD&V and Open VLD would only have a one-seat majority (76 out of 150 parliamentary seats), and the proposal to replace Vooruit with Open VLD might just be a ploy to push the former to accept the supernote.
'Coalition of chaos'
CD&V leader Sammy Mahdi is staunchly against a government that includes Open VLD. "We will not support such a coalition of chaos," he told VRT.
Meanwhile, DéFI leader François De Smet has criticised negotiators for the slow pace, calling them "dilettantes and amateurs" that in his view shows they are "not up to the challenge."
"I can no longer stand reading articles where Georges-Louis says he feels betrayed by Conner, Conner says he no longer trusts Bart, and Sammy Mahdi thinks 76 is not enough," he told Bel-RTL radio, expressing concern at Belgium's need for government in the wake of US elections, the upcoming EU budget deadline, drug wars and energy insecurity.
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The current deadlock might result in the third-longest Belgian government formation process in history. The country broke records in 2010 and again in 2020 for the longest time spent without a government: 541 days and 652 days, respectively.
While Open VLD has declared itself "ready to help" negotiators break through the impasse, Vooruit is determined to hold on despite the challenges. A survey by Het Laatste Nieuws shows that 57.7% of Flemish people want Vooruit in power. "Many of those polled said that Vooruit should be in government, and that's what we think too," former party leader Melissa Depraetere said on Sunday.
