The man chairing the Flemish coalition talks, the Flemish nationalist politician Matthias Diependaele and the negotiating teams from his own party N-VA, the socialists (Vooruit) and the Christian democrats (CD&V) will hold meetings throughout the weekend in the hope that the final few obstacles to forming a new Flemish government can be overcome.
The negotiators from all three parties are making little if any comment to the press. All they will say is that the spirit of the talks is “constructive”. On Friday afternoon the negotiators will start scrutinising data related to the budget. They will continue their work throughout the weekend.
A coalition agreement by Monday in time for the “September Declaration” in which the Flemish government outlines its planes for the coming year in the Flemish parliament now seems virtually out of the question. However, on Thursday it was mooted that if an agreement was reached before the end of the month there will still be a September Declaration, albeit not on the traditional 4th Monday of the month.
All three of parties involved in the negotiations appeares prepared to conclude the talks and form a government before municipal and provincial elections on 13 October.
The word ‘constructive’ is being bandied about quite often and the level of discretion that is being maintained is usually a positive sign.
All though significant progress has been made there are still bones of contention between the parties. The budget will of course be a big issue and there are differences in vision between the Flemish nationalists that want to balance the budget by 2027 and the socialists and Christian democrats that want to invest, particular in the social sector.