Flemish government formation on track but thorny issues remain
While the formation of the federal government has ground to a halt, the formation of the Flemish government is making slow but steady progress. Formateur Mathias Diependaele believes a government can be formed by September, but the most difficult issues remain to be negotiated.
On Friday, the negotiators of Vooruit, CD&V and N-VA continued their negotiations for the formation of a Flemish government with the topics of home affairs, foreign policy, mobility and public works and tourism. Also discussed this week were education, environmental policy and welfare.
The negotiators say they are making good progress and, unlike the federal negotiations, the talks have not led to any major conflicts. Diependaele maintains his goal is to have a government in place in September.
Due to how the federal negotiations have evolved, that could be an achievable goal. The negotiations were said to have been delayed by the federal talks as the leaders of Vooruit and CD&V are taking part in both negotiations at the same time. Now that these seem to have collapsed - at least in the short term - progress could accelerate.
Parallel governments
Former federal formateur Bart De Wever had hoped to form both governments at the same time, with N-VA, Vooruit and CD&V, and some suspected that N-VA was deliberately slowing down the formation of the Flemish government in order to keep up with the federal talks. Now it seems that a federal government before the local elections in October is highly unlikely, which could give the Flemish negotiators more breathing room
The collapse of the federal negotiations could also complicate the Flemish formation. MR's rejection of De Wever's final proposal is seen by some as a manoeuvre to replace Vooruit - the only left-wing party in the talks - with the centre-right Open VLD, which would end De Wever's hope of parallel governments.
Moreover, in contrast to De Wever's attempt to deal with the most difficult issues first, the Flemish negotiators have left them for last. Issues such as the budget, nitrogen policy and education reform will take up a lot of time, and a consensus with a left-wing, a right-wing and a centrist party is far from guaranteed.
In any case, Diependaele remains optimistic. "Things are going exactly as they should," he told VRT NWS on Friday.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT
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