Around noon on Wednesday, the Flemish government finally reached an agreement on its budget for next year.
“The figures are now in order,” said Minister-President Matthias Diependaele (N-VA), confirming that he will deliver his postponed September declaration in the Flemish Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.
Diependaele was supposed to deliver his address to the parliament on Monday, but this was delayed after a minister became unwell, suspending the negotiations on the budget.
On Tuesday evening, Diependaele announced that the ministers had reached a hard-won budget agreement, but coalition partner Vooruit withdrew its support for the deal a few hours later. According to the Flemish Socialists, the welfare budgets in Budget Minister Ben Weyts' (N-VA) budget table did not match the agreements that had been made.
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Diependaele and Weyts acknowledged that an incorrect calculation method had been used and that the issue would be resolved.
However, this did require an extra crisis meeting on Wednesday. After just over an hour’s meeting, white smoke appeared.
The table is now said to be "in order". What this means in concrete terms for the welfare budget in question remains unclear.
Diependaele is expected to address Parliament at 14:00.
