King appoints new federal government negotiator
Following the leaders of N-VA and PS proffering their resignations this week, King Filip has appointed Open VLD chair Egbert Lachaert to carry on the arduous task of forming a federal government
20 months and counting
Belgium has gone 20 months, since December 2018, with a caretaker government, after the previous coalition collapsed. Since the federal elections of May 2019, nine rounds of formation talks have ended without the necessary agreements required to move forward in creating a ruling coalition.
Flemish nationalists N-VA and Walloon socialists PS were the big winners on either side of the language border and so are fundamental to negotiations. One of the issues that made negotiations so difficult early on was the question of confederalism: N-VA are supporters of giving even more powers to the regions, while PS is against it, seeing it a step towards a more fractured Belgium.
Near-miss
Things finally seemed to be going in the right direction last month, when the Flemish and French-speaking Christian-Democrats and Flemish socialists S.PA got behind deals hammered out by De Wever and Magnette. But another party was needed to form a parliamentary majority, and the two options, liberals and greens, opted out las week, saying they didn’t like “being played against each other”.
Yesterday King Filip appointed Lachaert as preformateur to lead negotiations with all parties. This could be seen as a final effort to avoid scheduling new elections.
With a mandate to “take the necessary initiatives with the purpose of forming a government with a broad majority in parliament,” the king has tasked the leader of the Flemish liberal party to commence talks in order to come up with a formation plan. Lachaert’s first report to the king is due by 28 August.
According to VRT, Lachaert will not have to start from scratch. “Much of the substantive work has already been done in the last few months,” the broadcaster reported.
In a statement, Open VLD said that Lachaert would “execute the mission given to him by the king in all discretion. He will not start his task looking in just one direction. The intention is to invite all parties, and start with an open mind.”
Photo ©Nicolas Maeterlinck/BELGA
