As Bart De Wever's (N-VA) efforts to form a Federal Government fell through on Thursday, leaders of the five coalition parties consulted with King Philippe on Friday. Afterwards, the King appointed Les Engagés leader Maxime Prévot as mediator.
The move comes after De Wever resigned as formator following several days of blocked negotiations over a conflict between French-speaking liberal MR and Flemish socialists Vooruit over the introduction of a capital gains tax on shares.
Now, Prévot's mission is "to bring the positions of the different parties closer together so negotiations can resume as soon as possible," a statement from the Palace read. "Prévot has accepted this assignment and will report to the King on Monday 2 September."
The appointment means the King still believes in the chances of success of the so-called "Arizona" coalition between N-VA, CD&V, Vooruit, MR and Les Engagés. For the time being, no viable alternatives seem to be available.
Les Engages' leader Maxime Prevot arrives for a meeting with the Belgian King, Friday 23 August 2024. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
Throughout Friday, the leaders of the five coalition parties consulted with the King one by one. When leaving the Palace, nearly all of them made clear their belief that the current coalition can work.
First to meet with the King on Friday morning was Sammy Mahdi of the Flemish centrist CD&V. He said the five party leaders should continue the negotiations as there is still "a small window of opportunity" to form a Federal Government by the municipal elections on 13 October.
He hopes the talks between N-VA, CD&V, Vooruit, MR and Les Engagés will continue and said that King Philippe's invitation to the five parties is a "clear signal" that the coalition is still possible. Though the approach to discussions could be reevaluated, Mahdi stressed that the party leaders "can continue to work" on many good proposals that have already been put forward.
Additionally, he called on the negotiating teams not to get held up on "just €70 million" (in tax reforms) when Belgium must find €28 billion to fix its budget issues.
Moving as one or out of step?
The negotiations between the five parties had been blocked since Sunday on the issue of taxation, and in particular the introduction of a capital gains tax. This has pitched Conner Rousseau of the Flemish socialist Vooruit party against Georges-Louis Bouchez of the French-speaking liberals MR.
Several Belgian media outlets report that the final dispute revolved around an amount of some €70 million. "The question we must ask ourselves is how to get out of this situation," Mahdi said.
For CD&V, a major fiscal reform remains important, as are measures to bolster Belgium's healthcare system. Mahdi hopes that the parties show enough "courage and respect" that the negotiations do not fail due to personal issues. "It takes five to tango," he quipped.
CD&V's Sammy Mahdi. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
Meanwhile, Bouchez – who has been singled out as the one blocking the formation – made it clear he believed the new consultation round unnecessary: "We debate taxation for a week, one issue pops up and everyone goes to the Palace. If we are going to do that every time, I will ask for a room here."
When leaving his meeting with the King, he denied that the failure to reach an agreement had been his doing and dismissed the current crisis as "unnecessary drama." He added efforts to make the current coalition work should continue and held back from openly criticising coalition partners, though he hinted that Rousseau should soften somewhat given that Vooruit did considerably worse in the elections than MR.
"It is not unusual that a party with 30% of the vote should get a bit more in a coalition agreement than one with 13%," he said. "If you can impose your will with just 13% of the vote in Belgium, I won't bother campaigning in the next election."
A group effort
De Wever can return to lead the formation at a later stage, Rousseau said after his audience with the King. He stressed that Vooruit wants to cooperate constructively on all the proposals so that Belgium can have a government.
"You can hardly ask the people to save billions and implement reforms without asking for anything from the big powers. That would not be fair," Rousseau said, in a thinly-veiled reference to Bouchez. "If everyone plays along we will be able to reach an agreement very quickly."
Rousseau added that he told the King who he thought the next formator should be. But he didn't reveal the name when asked by reporters. "Regardless of who it is and what happens, we will cooperate," he said earlier on Friday.
The King and Vooruit leader Conner Rousseau (right), wearing his famous white sneakers. Credit: Belga
Contrary to his fellow party leaders, Prévot of Les Engagés did not make any statements to the press when leaving the Palace on Thursday afternoon. His meeting with the King lasted longer (almost an hour) than the meetings with the others.
In a press release published Thursday evening, Prévot said he regretted the failed formation attempt. He also called the MR-Vooruit dispute about a capital gains tax for financial products "a quarrel over a single measure" that caused the whole effort to fail.
Ex-formator Bart De Wever (N-VA), who resigned on Thursday evening, was the last party leader to pass by the Palace on Friday but left without comment to the press. When offering his resignation on Thursday, however, he made it clear he would continue to cooperate to form a "recovery and reform government to restore Flemish prosperity and avoid European sanctions over the federal budget situation."
