After a series of tense discussions on the subject, the Federal Government's core cabinet (which consists of the Prime Minister and all seven Deputy Prime Ministers) will meet again on Tuesday evening from 19:00 to discuss the tax reform.
After resistance from Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval (of francophone liberal party MR) in the past few days, he has now been persuaded to join the talks, De Morgen reports.
Bilateral talks held over the weekend resulted in MR announcing on Monday that, as far as the party were concerned, the conditions were not met to hold a plenary meeting (with all seven government parties together) again. MR also links the file to the budget talks in September and October.
But Prime Minister De Croo was insistent that the matter be addressed now and not put off until after the summer recess, as the MR party had pushed for. Explaining his party's change of heart in coming to the negotiating table, the cabinet of Clarinval told De Standaard that "The new proposals go in the right direction, especially with regard to job creation."
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On Tuesday afternoon, Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem confirmed that the deadline for the tax reform will remain on 21 July, as De Croo stated earlier in the Chamber.
For weeks, the Federal Government has been trying to reach an agreement on the tax reform, a proposal from Van Peteghem. Ministers want a tax reduction for people that are in work, but talks have been derailed on how the changes will be financed.
