Bart De Wever (N-VA) has offered his resignation as formator to King Philippe as negotiations to form a Federal Government failed to receive the support of the Flemish socialists Vooruit, who have now quit negotiation talks.
Despite the deadlock that has now paralysed Belgium's legislators for almost five months, no alternative government coalition is obvious, making the 'Arizona' coalition – composed of N-VA, CD&V, Vooruit, MR and Les Engagés – a numerical necessity. The King has consequently granted De Wever until Tuesday 12 November to hold additional consultations, the Palace announced.
The negotiations have centred on the socio-economic 'supernote', the agreement that will form the basis of the next government as it tries to rein in Belgium's budget deficit and make around €20 billion in savings. Despite a unanimous recognition of the need to stabilise national finances, how this is done has been the topic of intense debate.
As the only left-of-centre partner, Vooruit has repeatedly taken issue with the measures put forward. This had already seen numerous revisions to the document, but on Thursday evening the leader of the Flemish socialists Conner Rousseau announced that his party saw little point in negotiating a 'supernote' with which it fundamentally disagreed.
This led to a series of last-minute bilateral talks between De Wever and the other party leaders in an attempt to salvage the formation. But at the same time, Rousseau was intransigent, saying that his party agreed with just 15% of De Wever's 'supernote', while for French liberals MR (Vooruit's greatest adversary in the talks) it was around 85% satisfactory, in Rousseau's estimation. As a result, Vooruit quit the negotiations on Monday morning.
"It is hard to see what more De Wever can do," political scientist Nicolas Bouteca told Gazet van Antwerpen on Friday. With Vooruit apparently entrenched in opposition to the agreement on the table, it is difficult to see how discussions can get back on track.
What now?
Without a clear way to resolve the deadlock, the only answer seems to be granting more time to reach a palatable agreement. The parties will have another week to discuss how government negotiations can continue.
Vooruit's departure might ease the tensions among negotiators, who commentators say all still see the Arizona coalition as the only viable formation. But whether the four remaining parties can come up with a proposal that will get Vooruit back on board is not yet clear.
Some are questioning whether another governing coalition could be reached that would replace Vooruit with Open VLD (the Flemish liberals and party of outgoing Prime Minister Alexander De Croo). Yet this would barely pass, with a majority of just one seat in the Chamber. Not only would this make governing extremely challenging, it also is a partnership that De Wever has previously ruled out.
