De Wever looks to Open VLD to break government formation deadlock
Federal formateur Bart De Wever has invited the Flemish liberals of Open VLD to take part in the federal negotiations. Open VLD leader Eva De Bleeker has accepted the invitation, she announced on X on Thursday.
N-VA leader De Wever has been negotiating for months with MR, Les Engagés, Vooruit and CD&V to form Belgium's next federal government. But Vooruit, the only left-wing party in the negotiations, does not want to continue the talks on the basis of De Wever's current socio-economic proposal.
In response, De Wever offered his resignation to King Philippe on Monday. He was given a deadline of 12 November in a final attempt to get Vooruit around the table again.
But it now seems that the socialists could be replaced by the liberal Open VLD party. "I have accepted the formateur's invitation for an interview," De Bleeker said on Thursday. "We will discuss the content of our conversation internally."
Replacing Vooruit with Open VLD would have some disadvantages. The coalition has a very slim majority of 76 seats in the 150-seat parliament. It also does not have a majority in the Dutch language group, previously a red line for the Flemish nationalists of N-VA.
Divided views
In response to the news, CD&V leader Sammy Mahdi said he was not in favour of a federal coalition without Vooruit and with Open VLD. Only with a stable majority would major reforms be possible, he told VRT on Thursday.
George-Louis Bouchez, leader of French-speaking liberal party MR, sees things differently. "If Vooruit no longer wants to come to the table, we have to find another solution," he said on Thursday. "We cannot wait forever."
"If Vooruit no longer wants to come to the table, we have to find another solution"
One solution could be the formation of a temporary "emergency government" to get Belgium's budget in order before the end of the year. This idea was put forward by MP Jean-Marie Dedecker, who sits as an independent in the N-VA party, on a VRT talkshow on Thursday.
© BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM
Related news
