Elections 2024: After these elections, we can talk again about the previous elections

The campaign for the local elections on Sunday is calm and even rather low profile. As of Monday, the attention will diminish even more. Media will soon start to focus again on the problems that haven’t been solved after the last elections, of 9 June, namely the formation of a federal government and of a government for the Brussels region.

After the regional and national elections of 9 June, most governments are up and running. It’s no coincidence that the federal and the Brussels level are the two exceptions. A report this week from the Belgian National Bank shows these two have enormous budget cuts to work out.

A couple of months ago, the EU formally decided that the budget rules have to be respected again, after years of big spending due to covid and the high energy prices. For Belgium, with its poor state finances, this is a big challenge. The two political levels that will have to make the greatest efforts are the Brussels region (expenses have to be slowed down with 10 per cent points the next five years) and the federal level (a slow down of 8 per cent points is needed).

The two ‘formateurs’ are aware of the challenge. Federal formateur Bart De Wever (N-VA) started the negotiations with his potential coalition partners with a visit to that same National Bank. Brussels formateur David Leisterh (MR) has asked the Brussels administration for detailed numbers on their budget.

Weeks ago, the two negotiations reached a standstill because all politicians were campaigning at the local level. Bart De Wever, for example, wants to remain mayor of Antwerp (and will be replaced as such if and when he becomes prime minister).

The competition between political parties is too intense during an election campaign to come to a compromise. But once the elections are over, the negotiators will have to speed up. If they lose too much time, getting the budget-2025 on the right track will be impossible. Losing another year makes the fiscal disaster even worse.

This is easier said than done. The results of the local elections could very well impact the federal and Brussels talks, as there are several local issues that also play a role on the regional and national levels. The most obvious example is the Brussels mobility plan, which is very controversial, even within the group of parties that should form the next government.

The local elections will weaken the power of certain parties at the table and weaken that of others. Given the many parties at the two tables, given the complexity of the issues and given the budget cuts to be decided, weeks of intense negotiations lie ahead.

Local elections will take place at municipal and provincial levels in Belgium on Sunday 13 October. In the run-up to the vote, Belga English explores the main issues to watch out for and provides an overview of events.

_{#FlandersNewsService ​ ​ | ​ ​ In recent weeks, Bart De Wever campaigned in Antwerp, where he’s “at home”, as mayor. His work, however, will be in Brussels in the coming weeks, as candidate prime minister. © BELGA PHOTO WARD VANDAEL}