Belgium also has difficulty finding a government

As in France, the formation of the new Belgian government has been the soap opera of the summer. Roller-coaster negotiations have been taking place since June and have been relaunched again this September 2, since King Philippe has put a government formateur back on track.

On Monday 2 September, the King of the Belgians reappointed the leader of the New Flemish Alliance, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), Bart De Wever. His party came first on the Flemish side in the legislative elections of 9 June, since in Belgium, national elections are coupled with the European elections. The king had therefore tasked Bart de Wever on 10 June with a fact-finding mission to sound out the parties wishing to form a government coalition.

The test was successful since at the beginning of July a coalition for the Belgian federal government was announced, nicknamed “Arizona”. Coalitions in Belgium are often nicknamed after flags, because the parties have unchanging colours. In this case, the coalition identified since July refers to the four colours of the Arizona state flag. It represents a broad political palette with yellow on the right for the Flemish nationalists of the N-VA, then blue for the French-speaking, centre-right Mouvement Réformateur (MR). In the centre, there is orange for the Christian Democrat family with Les Engagés on the French-speaking side and the Christian Democrats in Flemish (CD&V), on the Flemish side. Finally, there is red for the socialists of the Vooruit party.

The Arizona coalition has therefore been revived, despite the fact that it has not managed to form a government. The negotiations were indeed stormy between the Flemish Vooruit, the only left-wing party, and the MR, which came first on the French-speaking side. Experts thought that it would be easier to form a coalition because it is the first time in decades that Flemish and French-speaking voters have aligned themselves to elect right-wing parties.

However, an additional partner was needed to gain a majority in parliament and there was a head-on clash between these two parties over the fiscal and economic reforms needed to reduce the Belgian state’s budget deficit.

The only point of agreement is the allocation of the post of European Commissioner, which goes to the French-speaking right and it is the MR, which wins it, but in a form of poisoned chalice. The post deprives the party of a ministry in the federal government and the party leader prolongs the suspense, since he is hesitating between the appointment of the current Minister of Foreign Affairs or the reappointment of the outgoing Belgian Commissioner. Belgium is therefore the only country not to have confirmed an appointment to the European Commission.