Faced with a persistent political deadlock preventing the formation of a Brussels Government, French-speaking and Dutch-speaking university researchers proposed various alternative scenarios to overcome the impasse on Monday.
The inter-university group consists of professors and researchers from ULB, VUB, KU Leuven, UCLouvain and Univeristé Saint-Louis Bruxelles. They consider the proposed scenarios as "significantly less desirable" than a traditional fully-fledged government in both practical and principled terms.
However, the financial situation of the Brussels-Capital Region demands more than a regime of provisional twelfths, which, for example, does not allow for handling a decline in revenue, anticipated by some projections, nor an increase in certain expenses, the housing crisis, and alarming socio-economic indicators.
"Brussels residents rightly expect a government," the group stated. "Failure to meet this demand risks increasing anger and distrust towards the political world. Consequently, many voters may turn to extremist or undemocratic parties in the next election."
They emphasised that these options would need to be supported by a dual French-speaking and Dutch-speaking majority in Parliament and must originate from political parties.
Groen leader and outgoing Brussels Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
Five proposed solutions
Regional unity government
Among the suggestions, the idea of a regional unity government including all democratic parties except Vlaams Belang emerged to, at the very least, agree on a budget.
However, the success of this type of government requires a shared vision of the gravity of the situation and appropriate responses. It also involves creating additional State Secretary positions and opens the door to vetoes similar to those currently faced by the Belgian Workers' Party (PTB) and Team Fouad Ahidar, the authors conceded.
Fouad Ahidar. Credit: Belga / Hatim Kaghat
Technical government
The suggestion of a technical government, which Italy resorted to twice at the beginning of the last decade, involves an executive comprising individuals from academia, administration or civil society.
This approach would override party vetoes and exclusions but comes with a drawback: "This type of government composed of unelected figures can take drastic measures without immediate political oversight, raising an issue of democratic accountability."
Crisis government
A crisis government option, enjoying limited confidence from Parliament and supported by a council of experts, was preferred for the Federal Government during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We must recognise that the governance issues in Brussels are far more complex than the technical problems posed during the pandemic," the university panel stated.
Minority government
The option of establishing a minority government is presented as "very difficult" due to articles of the Special Law on Brussels Institutions, which exclude constructive abstention from part of the assembly, feasible at the national level. This means that a majority of Brussels Parliament members and a majority in each language group would need to support it.
Les Engages' Christophe De Beukelaer. Credit: Belga/Hatim Kaghat
Other specificities of Brussels regarding the confidence motion risk quickly undermining the support of the majority of Parliament for the minority government.
Neutral mediator
Finally, the option of a neutral mediator to facilitate negotiations between parties was also proposed. This route should not be excluded following the tasks of the current informers, Christophe De Beukelaer (Les Engagés) and Elke Van den Brandt (Groen).
