The negotiations to form a new coalition government in Flanders have reached an impasse. The working document drafted by the man leading the talks, the Flemish nationalist Matthias Diepeldaele, does not offer enough to the two other parties involved in the talks (the socialists and the Christian democrats) for them to want to take things to the next level.
Mr Diependaele met with the leaders of the Flemish socialist party Vooruit and Christian democrat party CD&V for lenthly talks on Thursday. However, after the meetings that took place consecutively, Conner Rousseau (Vooruit) and Sammy Mahdi (CD&V) were far from enthusiastic.
The socialist party leader Conner Rousseau said that the proposals in Mr Diependaele’s working paper were inadequate. The Christian democrat leader Sammy Mahdi said pretty much the same thing. Mr Mahdi added that the document contained too little for it to be used as a basis for further talks.
Impasse?
It would appear that the talks on the formation of a new Flemish coalition government have reached an impasse. The question now is how Matthias Diependaele can get the negotiations back on track. On Thursday Mr Diependaele cautiously stated that he had “taken note of the criticism from the potential coalition partners”.
Although observers assume that the coalition negotiations between the nationalists, the socialists and the Christian democrats will resume, it now seems highly unlikely that their will be a new Flemish Government by 23 September.
Traditionally on the 4th Monday in September, the Flemish government makes its September Declaration, a policy statement outlining the measures it plans to introduce during the coming year. Some analysists are now saying that there won’t be a new regional government until after the local elections on 13 October.