PS leaves Brussels government talks after agreement on Dutch-speaking side
Francophone socialist party PS has left the negotiations to form a new Brussels government. The party doesn’t agree with the basis on which the Dutch-speaking parties in Brussels recently formed a coalition.
After long negotiations, Dutch-speaking formateur Elke Van den Brandt of green party Groen agreed a coalition with N-VA, Open VLD and Vooruit last week. On the French-speaking side, MR, Les Engagés and PS had long ago agreed to collaborate. PS is now leaving the negotiation table because it is unhappy with the basis of the Dutch-speaking coalition.
PS condemns “the unilateral creation of a Dutch-speaking government commissioner position”. “Moreover, the budget competence is also already assigned before negotiations on the content of a coalition agreement have started,” a spokesperson said.
According to PS, the agreement of the Dutch-speaking parties also “questions the institutional balance of the Brussels-Capital Region and the interests of French-speakers” and “threatens the local policy of the municipalities in terms of prevention, safety and social cohesion”.
The “super memorandum" of the Dutch-speaking parties, the document forming the basis of their coalition, mentions a merger of police zones, municipalities and the public centres for social welfare.
'Lack of political courage'
Brussels N-VA leader and Flemish minister Cieltje Van Achter said she was “astonished by the PS's lack of responsibility”. “There is now finally progress on the Dutch-speaking side, with a coalition willing to negotiate and look for solutions for Brussels. But now, the PS is blocking Brussels.”
French-speaking formateur David Leisterh, of liberal party MR, has called for all parties to assume their responsibility.
"The people of Brussels would not understand that political bickering stands in the way of the capital's recovery"
“The stakes are too high. The people of Brussels would not understand that political bickering stands in the way of the capital's recovery,” he said.
Van den Brandt said “no substantive talks have been able to take place”. “We support David Leisterh in his call to take responsibility in this delicate situation in the interests of the people of Brussels,” she said in a brief reaction.
Christophe De Beukelaer of Les Engagés said the super-memorandum of the Dutch-speaking parties merely reflected the common positions of the Dutch-speaking parties around the table.
“We do not share this institutional project of the Dutch speakers either, but we are aware that we need to simplify and reform Brussels in depth,” he said, adding that PS was showing “a lack of political courage in the face of the scale of reforms needed in Brussels”.
Brussels PS leader Ahmed Laaouej at the post-election meeting of French-speaking socialist party PS in Brussels, 9 June 2024 © BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND
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