More than one year after the federal elections of June 2010, eight parties (CD&V, Open VLD, SP.A, Groen!, PS, CDH, MR and Ecolo) are attempting to finalise an agreement on matters such as the split of BHV, budgetary matters and the finance laws, which regulate the division of the budget between the federal state and the regions and communities.

The optimistic statements came after yet another week full of drama, in which an agreement seemed as far off as ever. Wednesday, 7 September, was the absolute low point, as SP.A party president Caroline Gennez was photographed with a hand-written note seeping of pessimism, and as the talks had to be suspended because of the sudden death of formateur Elio Di Rupo’s eldest brother.

Meanwhile, the French-speaking liberals, who were invited to the talks only recently, proved the hardest to convince. MR party president Charles Michel stated repeatedly that he would “not tolerate that Wallonia should be impoverished” and that “he refused to let go of Brussels”. MR has within its ranks the FDF, a small radical party headed by Olivier Maingain, which has its stronghold in Brussels and the Flemish periphery around the capital.

However, the Flemish, too, have strong objections to some of the proposals, especially concerning the finance law, as Flanders would get far less fiscal autonomy than it wants.

Last week there were plenty of rumours about the way Di Rupo want to compensate the split of the BHV constituency, which the Flemish have been requesting for years. The appointment of three recalcitrant French-speaking mayors of Linkebeek, Wezembeek- Oppem and Kraainem, which the Flemish government refuses because they have repeatedly broken the language laws, is one such compensation.

Under the new rule, the mayors would be “presumed” as such awaiting a decision by the Flemish government. Should they not be appointed, the idea went, they could turn to a bilingual chamber of the Council of State – rather than a monolingual Dutchspeaking one. The idea did not live long and caused hilarity rather than outrage.

A leaked note from formateur Di Rupo on Monday showed that BHV would only be split in the long run – in 2013, or later still. N-VA, Flanders’ largest party, which refused to negotiate on the basis of Di Rupo’s proposals, is indignant about some parts of the document. That the bilingual chamber of the Council of State should be responsible to rule over language conflicts in Flanders “indicates that they don’t trust the Dutch-speaking judges and even suspect them of ethnical jurisdiction,” Ben Weyts of N-VA said on Monday.

Government imminent?

As Flanders Today went to press the talks seemed about to reach their conclusion, with Di Rupo shuttling between the representatives of the two language groups. In spite of the negotiators’ optimism, many commentators find it hard to believe that an agreement – and a new federal government – is just around the corner, as the matter of the three mayors is still on the table. Moreover, an upcoming decree by the Flemish government, which states that mayors whose appointment has been refused cannot be nominated again, might prove a new obstacle.

Over the weekend, caretaker prime minister Yves Leterme (CD&V) turned up the pressure by demanding to know whether Di Rupo’s team of negotiators will draw up next year’s budget. If not, Leterme declared himself willing to do the job. “If there is a problem, I need to know. The efforts should be taken seriously, as we are short €7 or €8 billion.”