The last sprint? De Wever plans (final) government talks from Wednesday

The last sprint? De Wever plans (final) government talks from Wednesday
N-VA leader Bart De Wever's leaving a meeting at the Royal Palace, Monday 25 November 2024 in Brussels, to discuss the negotiations on a new government. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck

In the last sprint to the Friday 31 January deadline, formator Bart De Wever (N-VA) wants to start the (final) talks on his socio-economic reforms from Wednesday. Until then, the intention is to eliminate other thematic sticking points.

Last weekend, De Wever failed to get the leaders of the five 'Arizona' parties (N-VA, CD&V, Vooruit, Les Engagés and MR) around the table to continue the tough reforms discussions.

It became clear on Saturday that the Flemish socialist Vooruit party was against any changes to Belgium's wage indexation system, which dashed De Wever's hopes of a breakthrough this weekend. The bill clearly remains a sticking point for Vooruit, especially since the party feels that the capital gains tax in the formator's plans is also on the small side.

"Saving more than €20 billion is no pleasure trip," De Wever told VRT on Monday morning. "But it can only succeed when there are comprehensive reforms. Everything is negotiable, but the level of ambition of the supernote must remain intact."

'Hard' deadline

Whether there is much that can still be changed is another question, he said. "Most of the proposals have been on the table for seven months and have already been discussed in all shapes and forms. Even those minor adjustments to the index have always been in there."

After another round of bilateral talks, De Wever decided to first tackle a series of other thematic sticking points in the coming days. On Wednesday, the so-called supernote will then return to the table – but it remains to be seen whether a breakthrough and an agreement will be achieved.

In any case, De Wever must report back to the King about the progress he has made on Friday – which he himself also referred to as "a hard deadline."

"The deadline is the deadline. The King agreed that the previous extension was the last one," De Wever said. De Wever hopes there will be unanimity among the parties on a coalition agreement by then. If not, he may throw in the towel as formator.

Vooruit's leader Conner Rousseau and CD&V leader Sammy Mahdi. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck

With less than a week left, this does make the timing very tight. However, inside sources told Belga News Agency that the negotiators believe that an agreement on the socio-economic reforms and the budget would be possible by Friday.

As everything else has already been discussed, a full government agreement should be in reach once those major breakthroughs have happened.

"I am ready to become Prime Minister," De Wever said. "If there is a sufficient agreement, I will take my place in the Rue de la Loi 16 (Prime Minister's office), but the reverse is also true. You can count on that."

Related News


Latest News

Copyright © 2025 The Brussels Times. All Rights Reserved.