Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The MR chairman Georges-Louis plan, including N-VA, faces opposition from PS, DéFI, Ecolo, and others. It lacks sufficient French-speaking votes, with only 38 seats, making it unlikely to succeed.
On Monday, March 31, 2025, the MR party tried to form a government with the N-VA party, but they didn’t want any N-VA ministers in the government. The PS party, led by Ahmed Laaouej, didn’t agree to this plan. This made the MR party’s chairman, Georges-Louis Bouchez, come up with a new idea. He suggested a government with the MR and Les Engagés on the French-speaking side.
On the Dutch-speaking side, they would include Groen, Vooruit, Open VLD, CD&V, and N-VA. However, this proposed government faces some serious challenges. It wouldn’t have enough votes in the French-speaking parliament or the Brussels Parliament. This is because French-speaking parties have a lot of power in Brussels.
Will MR’s new government plan succeed amidst rejection from PS, DéFI, and Ecolo?
The French-speaking parties, like the PS, don’t like the MR party’s new idea for a government. They say it won’t work because it doesn’t have enough French-speaking votes. They thought this government would be unstable and not good for Belgium.
The French-speaking parties are important in Belgium’s government, and they don’t want to be left out. Because of this, the process of forming a government has stopped completely. The French-speaking parties and the Dutch-speaking parties can’t agree on how to make a government. They aren’t willing to compromise.
That’s like buying a pig in a poke.
DéFI President Sophie Rohonji
The MR party’s new government idea has more problems. A party called DéFI doesn’t like it. The DéFI leader, Sophie Rohonji, says there’s no clear plan or agreement for this government. She thinks it’s like buying something without knowing what it is.
She also doesn’t like that the MR party wants to work with the N-VA party because she thinks the N-VA doesn’t care about people in Brussels. Rohonji also says the government plan is unfair. It gives more power to the Dutch-speaking parties, and the French-speaking parties would be weaker. They wouldn’t have enough votes to get things done.
It’s not going to work, so why put any effort into it?
Brussels MP Martin Casier (PS)
Another political party, the PS, also doesn’t like the MR party’s plan for a new government. A PS member, Martin Casier, said the plan wouldn’t work because it didn’t have enough votes. He said the plan only has 38 seats, and that’s not enough to pass important things like the budget.
He also asked how a government with so few votes can really run the country, especially when the French-speaking parties don’t have enough votes on their own. Casier didn’t say if the PS would support a government with so few votes, but he made it clear that they probably won’t.
If I were one of the French-speaking voters, I would feel cheated
Brussels MP Zakia Khattabi (Ecolo)
Ecolo’s leader, Zakia Khattabi, is also worried about the MR party’s plan to include the N-VA party in the new government. She said this would mean French-speaking parties would have less power, and it would also give N-VA a place in the government. Ecolo doesn’t think N-VA cares about the French-speaking people, especially those in Brussels.
Khattabi thinks the MR party is only including N-VA because they want to be friends with them at the national level, not because they care about the French-speaking people in Brussels. Ecolo thinks that if they were a French-speaking voter, they would feel like the MR party is betraying them by putting their own needs above the needs of the French-speaking people.
