Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A Brussels Parliament group made up of negotiators from MR, PS, Les Engagés, Groen, Open VLD, Vooruit, and CD&V will gain clarification from the steering committee regarding the Brussels budget situation and potential methods to improve its state. Negotiators will definitely address the government formation process after discussions about cleaning up the Brussels budget.
Negotiators from seven Brussels Parliament political parties, including MR, PS, Les Engagés, Groen, Open VLD, Vooruit and CD&V, will convene to assess changes in the budget and evaluate financial solutions. In addition to examining the financial issues of the budget, the representatives will review the unsuccessful government formation process since Christophe De Beukelaer (Les Engagés) and Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) concluded their information mission about a week ago.
The presence of Open VLD negotiator Frédéric De Gucht in Parliament serves as a positive sign, but his party is reluctant to form a seven-party coalition, preferring N-VA participation in the Brussels government. De Beukelaer also said he hopes that talking about the budget will lead to more confidence.
Some people think that others do not want to do enough to clean up Brussels’ finances,
he said.
For me, the deadline for a budget has long since passed.
What is the current political and fiscal situation in Brussels?
The June 2019 regional elections resulted in Brussels operating without a government because the MR, PS, Les Engagés, Groen, Open VLD CD&V, and Vooruit parties failed to win a majority in the elections. The Brussels-Capital Region operates with an excessive budget deficit exceeding €500 million because public transport and social housing and security requirements have increased finances beyond capacity.
A previous attempt to establish a coalition met failure because Open VLD demanded to include N-VA while other factions opposed this decision in addition to the dispute about fiscal reforms.
The most recent mediation attempt between Christophe De Beukelaer (Les Engagés) and Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) failed to produce results in the early part of February 2025. The debt-to-GDP ratio of Brussels has increased to 105%, prompting concerns from both Belgium’s federal government and the European Commission. If a budget remains unapproved, funding will be at risk for critical infrastructure and social programs so the negotiators face increasing pressure to break this impasse.
