Government formation: New round of bilateral talks on Sunday
Formateur Bart De Wever is planning a new round of bilateral talks with party leaders on Sunday to discuss the formation of a new Belgian government. The ambition to bring together all five negotiating parties proved premature.
Belgium has been trying to form a federal government for more than seven months now. The ongoing talks have grown even more tense since Friday 17 January, when De Wever presented a socio-economic policy proposal that met with little enthusiasm.
De Wever's proposal has been widely leaked to the press and has provoked fierce criticism from the left, including opposition parties and trade unions. Several negotiators have criticised the plans as being more right-wing than previous versions.
Growing concern
After a series of bilateral talks in recent days, De Wever had hoped to bring all the parties together on Sunday in a bid to achieve a breakthrough. But the time does not yet seem ripe for such a plenary session.
On Saturday it became clear that there is growing concern within the socialist Vooruit party about how the measures proposed by De Wever will affect purchasing power.
A Vooruit party meeting decided that certain parts of the proposal were unacceptable, including a reform of Belgium's automatic wage indexation. The party has sent its leader, Conner Rousseau, clear conditions for the remainder of the negotiations.
Deadline approaching
The Christian democratic party CD&V is also concerned about the proposed wage indexation reform. Party leader Sammy Mahdi raised these concerns with De Wever on Friday, but CD&V is willing to continue negotiations.
On Friday, De Wever is expected to report to the King on the progress of the government formation talks. At the end of December, negotiators set this date as the deadline for forming a government.
Bart De Wever, leader of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA and formateur in the talks to form a Belgian federal government © BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM
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