Bart De Wever fails to form government after first round of negotiations

The leader of the Flemish conservative party failed to find a compromise with the four other Belgian parties that were then ready to form a government coalition. King Philippe will begin new consultations on Friday.

A blow for nothing. A first round of negotiations, launched on July 10 with a view to forming a government in Belgium, failed two months after the legislative elections, but discussions are due to resume on Friday, August 23. Bart De Wever, leader of the Flemish conservative party (N-VA), has handed over his mandate as chief negotiator to King Philippe, who had entrusted it to him in July, acknowledging the failure of his talks with four other Belgian parties then ready to form a government coalition, the Royal Palace announced on Thursday evening.

The King of the Belgians had appointed him “formateur”, a role attributed to the man who is generally expected to become Prime Minister. Five Flemish and Walloon parties had agreed to try to form a coalition, following the June elections. King Philippe will begin new consultations on Friday “with the presidents of the five parties involved in the negotiations for the formation of a new government”the Royal Palace said in a statement. At the end of the consultations, another negotiator, who could be Bart De Wever himself, should in principle be appointed to resume the negotiations. These could last several more weeks, a habit in the kingdom.

These first talks, which began in July, have stumbled over fiscal issues, with the French-speaking liberals rejecting a proposal for a capital gains tax, defended by the Flemish socialists. Belgium, with a public deficit of 4.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP), is one of seven European countries facing proceedings for violating the eurozone’s budgetary rules.

The vote on 9 June was marked by a victory for the right and the centre-right, with an unprecedented alignment of Wallonia with Flanders, where the right is traditionally in the majority. Around the N-VA, four partners had agreed in July to discuss a future government. These are the liberals of the Reform Movement (MR), the centrist party Les Engagés and, on the Dutch-speaking side, the Christian Democrats (CD&V) and Vooruit, the former Flemish Socialist Party, the only left-wing partner. These five parties together represent a majority of 81 of the 150 seats in the Belgian Chamber of Deputies.

Reputedly ungovernable, Belgium had lived 541 days without a fully functioning government in 2010-2011. A record from which the country was not so far when the coalition of seven parties led by the current Prime Minister Alexander De Croo finally saw the light of day in the fall of 2020, 493 days after the 2019 elections.