Overnight negotiations fail to produce agreement on federal government
The five parties negotiating the formation of a new federal government have failed to reach an agreement. At around 4.30 on Monday morning, they broke off negotiations without an agreement on formateur Bart De Wever's socio-economic memorandum.
The five parties - Vooruit, N-VA and CD&V on the Flemish side and MR and Les Engagés on the francophone side - are negotiating a "socio-economic super memorandum" that will form the basis of the next federal government.
The memorandum has been drafted by De Wever of N-VA, who is in charge of forming a government, and contains proposals on the labour market, pensions and taxation. De Wever believes that without an agreement on these reforms, further negotiations are not possible.
Socialist party Vooruit had been critical of these proposals, saying they were too conservative. But bilateral talks between party leader Conner Rousseau and De Wever on Sunday seemed to have resolved much of the disagreement. Ahead of the meeting on Sunday, Vooruit made it clear that a compromise could be found.
'Continue to work'
However, the concessions to Vooruit seemed to have gone too far for the liberal MR party. Shortly before midnight, the meeting was interrupted for the first time for bilateral consultations between N-VA and MR.
At 4.30, the negotiators finally stopped. N-VA is not communicating for the time being, but according to sources in other parties, De Wever is not giving up yet. "We continue to work," N-VA negotiator Theo Francken wrote on X.
De Wever is due to visit the King at 14.00 on Monday and is expected to ask for an extension of his role as formateur. He is still aiming to conclude negotiations by 20 September, the date by which Belgium must submit its deficit reduction plan to the European Commission.
© BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM
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