Belgian King Philippe has given federal formator Bart De Wever's (N-VA) another two weeks to break the deadlock to form a new Federal Government, following June's elections.
De Wever was back at the Royal Palace on Tuesday to update the Belgian Monarch on government formation talks. Last week, he submitted his resignation as formator to the King but was given an additional week to continue negotiations. Discussions have been at a standstill since the Flemish socialist Vooruit party said they would not negotiate further based on the proposals currently on the table.
"The King notes that there has not yet been a breakthrough for the formation of a new government, but that discussions are still ongoing," a press statement by the Royal Palace reads. "On that basis, he has decided to reconfirm De Wever in his position and to grant him until 25 November to break the impasse."
While the N-VA leader's next steps are not immediately clear, a source told Belga News Agency he will continue to attempt to form the Arizona coalition with Vooruit. Despite the now months-long standstill in negotiations between these five parties, De Wever himself was the one who asked for the extension, De Standaard reports.
'A stable majority'
De Wever wants to get a coalition of parties around the table "as soon as possible" to start the final phase of government negotiations. Therefore, he is looking "first and foremost for a stable majority."
His intention is to be able to start final government negotiations as soon as possible, because "given the particularly serious state of our budget, we have no time to lose." He plans to quickly propose a method "on the basis of which parties of goodwill should be able to commit to coming to the negotiating table."
This also suggests that will not pursue the route with Open VLD, but De Wever intends to work without speaking to the press too much, "as in recent months," he said. "I hope that I can expect the same discretion from my fellow negotiators."
Vooruit's Conner Rousseau and Vooruit's Frank Vandenbroucke. Credit: Belga/Eric Lalmand
Recently, the formation process was subject to a slew of leaks to the press, which did not help trust between the negotiators.
While De Wever had been aiming to find a new Federal Government by mid-November so that it could have a budget for 2025 voted in parliament before the end of the year, but those hopes now seem dashed.
The formateur is still working at least until 25 November to try to resuscitate the 'Arizona' coalition, but even if he succeeds, negotiations will probably have to continue for some time after that date – meaning the budget would not be in place in time.
Complete discretion
Vooruit last week denounced that the programme leaned too much to the right and that the most wealthy would not contribute enough to the budgetary effort needed to clean up public finances. Last week, De Wever asked the Flemish liberal party Open VLD to join discussions in an attempt to get out of the deadlock.
Over the past few days, all negotiating parties have been in contact "in complete discretion." Before the weekend, a coalition without either Vooruit nor Open VLD was ready, blocking De Wever's options on how to move forward.
If Vooruit do not come back to the table, the prospect of the Arizona coalition (with N-VA, CD&V, Vooruit, MR and Les Engagés) is seemingly over, at least for the time being. However, in order to get Open VLD on board, the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V) and Les Engagés parties must be persuaded.
Ahead of De Wever's meeting with the King, Les Engagés leader Maxime Prévot called it "premature" to speak with Open VLD now, "even though it may be essential in the coming days or weeks."
A majority of N-VA, MR, Les Engagés, CD&V and Open VLD (instead of Vooruit) would be politically awkward for the French-speaking centrists, as it would mean "a major shift to the right," as well as it being "mathematically awkward" because it would rely on a one-seat majority, he said.
Les Engages chairman Maxime Prevot. Credit: Belga/Eric Lalmand
CD&V leader Sammy Mahdi also called a 76-seat majority "too narrow" and added that "in that case, things could go wrong every week." It would mean that if just one person from the government coalition voted against a proposal, there could no longer be a majority. "We will not support a coalition of chaos."
He also does not see a future for a temporary "special powers" government, which is being considered to allow the implementation of the reforms necessary to keep the budget on track – similar to what Belgium did during the Covid-19 pandemic before the De Croo government came into power in October 2020.
On Tuesday, Mahdi said he already had reservations about this way of doing things during the Covid-19 pandemic. "It is not a good idea to sideline the parliament and the opposition on such important and much-needed socio-economic reforms. That is not what democracy is."
What happens next?
With two more weeks to get Vooruit back on board, De Wever is set to reportedly use a new methodology in the negotiations. Instead of rewriting the same socio-economic "super-note" again, discussions will now focus on specific issues.
This way, Vooruit could be convinced that balances can indeed be found, for example in a domain such as taxation (where Vooruit is asking for more contributions from the most wealthy) so confidence can be restored.
Flemish Vooruit Minister Melissa Depraetere said on VTM Nieuws last weekend that the socialists will return to the table if a "better proposal" is presented.
N-VA leader Bart De Wever and King Philippe after a meeting at the Royal Palace, Tuesday 12 November 2024. Credit: Belga/Dirk Waem
The question is whether De Wever can even put such a "better proposal" on the table. For example, it is not clear whether MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez opened the door to concessions towards Vooruit during a meeting with the "bubble of four" leaders (N-VA, MR, Les Engagés and CD&V) on Tuesday morning.
The four parties could also start negotiations among themselves, in order to later bring a fifth party on board. A fifth party will be necessary in any case, because N-VA, MR, Les Engagés and CD&V do not have a majority together.
