No more purple love
Coalition governments are always difficult for those involved. Even though they belong to the majority, they cannot do as they please, as there is always the collation partner to take into account. Still, some coalitions work better than others.
Take the first federal government with Guy Verhofstadt as prime minister, and its Flemish counterpart with minister-president Patrick Dewael. They called themselves “a friends’ club”. Even though they were made up of no less than three political groups – liberals, socialists and greens – there was a sort of chemistry between them. The times were prosperous, of course, which always helps, and the Christian Democrats were in opposition for the first time in decades.
Still, there was something odd about these ‘purple’ (blue and red) coalitions. Economically speaking, liberals and socialists are each other’s opposites, as liberals want less state intervention and socialists want more. A combination like that only works when there is enough money around, so that no tough choices have to be made.
With the economic crisis and new Flemish elections on the way, all of that has changed, and the ideological antagonism between liberals and socialists has surfaced again. Liberals and socialists collided recently about the Oosterweel, a road connection to improve traffic flow in Antwerp. Open VLD, led by public works minister Dirk Van Mechelen, wants the project (including the controversial Lange Wapper viaduct) to begin as soon as possible, whereas SP.A hesitates as the project is not popular with its Antwerp electorate.
A second clash came when the socialist employment minister Frank Vandenbroucke proposed government support for people who are forced to work less because of the crisis. Open VLD objected, stating that this would cost too much. Liberals also find it hard to digest the idea of people being paid to do no work. In the end, the Flemish government agreed to the contribution, much to the relief of Volvo Ghent.
All of this may just be electoral play acting. Both parties’ electorates enjoy fights like these. With elections on the way, liberals will always portray socialists as big spenders who will derail the budget. Socialists, on the other hand, will always warn that liberals will eat away at our social security system. Does that mean the love affair between liberals and socialists is over? Hard to tell, but for now it certainly looks that way.
