The king's move makes one thing clear: in spite of their differences, it is up to PS and N-VA, winners of the federal elections to the south and north of the language border, to form a new government. This marks an end to speculation about the liberals joining the federal government. (Until now only N-VA, socialists, Christian- democrats and greens took part in the talks.)

Last week, Didier Reynders, president of the French-speaking liberals (MR), showed himself more than eager to join in. His offer on state reform went much further than anything the other French-speaking parties were willing to concede. Open VLD, the Flemish liberals, showed more restraint, but it is hard to see how they could refuse to join a government - if invited.

From De Wever's point of view, taking the liberals on board makes sense. De Wever's economic instincts are for right-wing recipes, often inspired by the employers' organisation Voka. Cutting back on unemployment benefits, reforming employment regulations and reducing corporate taxes are, however, a hard thing to do when sharing power with socialists. A satisfying agreement on institutional matters might make this pill easier to swallow, but so far there are no signs of that.

Bringing in the liberals would be bad news for the Flemish socialists, SP.A, who would no longer be needed mathematically to make up a majority. Moreover, they even risk being left out of the Flemish government, too, as they are isolated there on the issue of the Oosterweel plan. To make matters worse, De Wever, who abhors socialism as it is, was greatly irritated when SP.A president Caroline Gennez "missed a chance to shut up" after the recent breakdown in the federal talks.

But the Flemish liberals have been given the cold shoulder. It looks like the king has not forgotten who started all this. It was, after all, Open VLD who caused the federal government to fall over the issue of BHV. King Albert obviously saw no point in inviting the killjoys to the party.