Belgium (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): Political negotiations in Belgium are delayed despite clear election results on June 9. The N-VA leads, but coalition talks falter over tax and labor reforms proposed by Bart De Wever.
It has been reported that Political experts thought forming the federal government would be fast, but it’s taking longer than expected. Wallonia quickly resolved the issues, but the rest of Belgium is still far from forming governing groups. The election results on 9 June showed a clear outcome, suggesting an easy coalition on paper. In the French-speaking area, the Green Party Ecolo and the usually important Socialist Party lost, while the liberal MR and centrist Les Engages did very well. In Flanders, the right-wing N-VA did better than expected, with centrists CD&V and socialist Vooruit also getting a good share of the vote—at the cost of Groen and liberal Open VLD.
What Challenges Does De Wever Face Forming Government?
Considering these results, the clear talk choices were N-VA, CD&V, Vooruit, MR, and Les Engages. They are quite similar in what they think and can get enough backing to rule. The King quickly chose N-VA leader Bart De Wever to gather information, who later became the head of forming the government by the end of July. This was seen as a positive sign of things moving smoothly.
In August, De Wever shared his famous “socioeconomic super note,” suggesting significant changes in taxes, pensions, and labor laws. Vooruit was unsure because they were the only left-leaning party in a mostly right-leaning group. It was MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez who messed up the talks. The King picked Maxime Prévot from Les Engages to cool things off. He changed the negotiation policy: starting with easier topics before returning to the budget later.
