The five parties attempting to form the Federal Government failed to break the deadlock in negotiations on Wednesday night. If they do not find an agreement by formator Bart De Wever's (N-VA) meeting with the King on Thursday evening, the formation process might turn into yet another government crisis for Belgium.
Negotiators from the N-VA, CD&V, Vooruit, MR and Les Engagés parties went home around 01:30 last night – again without an agreement.
After a whole day of bilateral talks on Wednesday, De Wever only managed to get the negotiating teams of all five parties around the table together just before 01:00 at night. However, that consultation lasted only about 30 minutes before everyone went home.
What exactly went wrong is not clear. Those involved seldom comment on the content of the negotiations, but a source did indicate to Belga News Agency that "very little progress" was made on Wednesday. Maxime Prévot, the leader of the Francophone centrist Les Engagés, was the only person to make a brief statement to the VRT and VTM cameras on Wednesday night. He affirmed that he still believes in the envisaged coalition and that he still has faith in De Wever.
A lost cause?
The formation has been in jeopardy since Sunday night due to a conflict between Francophone liberal MR and Flemish socialists Vooruit, who wan to introduce a capital gains tax on shares. This has become part of De Wever's socio-economic "super note". But while such a tax is seen by Vooruit as "absolutely essential", MR is firmly against it.
To break the tensions, De Wever first met separately with the leading negotiators of all parties at the N-VA headquarters on Wednesday morning. Afterwards, MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez said that his party still wants to form a government with the other four parties. He added that "a disagreement in the formation process is not a tragedy."
Vooruit leader Conner Rousseau was more reserved in his comments but also stressed that his party is "constructively continuing negotiations."
Press waiting for the negotiations to end. Credit: Belga
While it briefly seemed as if the conflict had largely been resolved, this proved not to be the case later in the evening. The initial meeting planned for all the parties at 19:00 in the Rue de la Loi did not take place. Instead, De Wever and his team had to again meet the negotiators individually before finally bringing everyone together after midnight.
Multiple sources confirmed that a new attempt will follow on Thursday but it is not (yet) clear how, where or when that will happen. On Thursday morning it was reported that De Wever will stick to phone calls until further notice. Another meeting has not been scheduled.
In any case, the pressure is on: De Wever is due to report again to the King on progress on Thursday evening. Without an agreement, it seems likely that De Wever will have to pass on the role of formator to someone else.
