N-VA leader Bart De Wever has secured another deadline extension for government formation talks on Belgium's 169th day without a government.
De Wever met with the King on Monday morning and received another deadline extension to form a Federal Government.
Talks have once again been renewed, this time until Tuesday 10 December when De Wever will meet with the king again. The monarch has asked him to "bring negotiations to a successful conclusion as soon as possible".
De Wever is the leader of right-wing party N-VA and federal formator, making him responsible for forming a Federal Government in the wake of elections on 9 June. He is trying to secure an agreement between five political parties – N-VA, Mouvement Réformateur (MR), Les Engagés, CD&V and Vooruit – to form the 'Arizona' coalition.
Le Roi a reçu le formateur @Bart_DeWever en audience au Palais royal. Le Roi lui a demandé de poursuivre ses travaux en vue de la formation d’un nouveau gouvernement fédéral et d’aboutir dans les meilleurs délais. M. De Wever fera un nouveau rapport au Roi le 10/12 prochain. pic.twitter.com/ZoEdKCPHl5
— Belgian Royal Palace (@MonarchieBe) November 25, 2024
Translation: The King received formator Bart De Wever at the Royal Palace. The King asked him to continue his work with a view to forming a new federal government and to bring it to a successful conclusion as soon as possible. Mr De Wever will report back to the King on 10/12.
Central point of division
De Wever has already received multiple extensions from the king. Talks stalled several weeks ago when Vooruit, the only left-of-centre member of Arizona, walked out of negotiations, arguing that the policies being discussed put too great a financial burden on poorer Belgians, rather on the wealthiest members of society.
Vooruit rejoined talks last Monday, but the contentious elements of De Wever's socio-economic supernote have not yet been broached in the latest round of negotiations. The supernote focuses on tax reforms, the labour market and pensions to stabilise Belgium's budgetary deficit.
N-VA leader Bart De Wever talks to the press after a meeting to discuss a possible coalition for the Federal Government. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
2025 budget 'impossible' by end of year
Government formation talks were supposed to produce a result by 29 November so that Belgium could draw up a budget for next year. Open VLD leader Eva de Bleecker said on Sunday that this would be impossible given the current pace of negotiations.
"When I was appointed on 1 October, people already said it would be very tight to draw up the budget for the next year in just three months' time," De Bleeker said. "Now there is only one month and one week left. That is just not possible."
If no agreement is reached by the end of the year, the government will manage its 2025 annual budget in "provisional twelfths", meaning that the Federal Government will only be able to spend one-twelfth of its total expenditure for 2024 (plus indexation) every month – allowing it to still meet key costs, such as wages or paying invoices.
68% of Belgians say it is unacceptable that political parties are taking so long to form a government, according to an Ipsos poll published on Monday.
