The Francophone socialist PS says its conditions for taking part in the talks on forming a new regional government in the Brussels Capital Region are no longer being met. The PS is withdrawing from the talks after earlier forging an agreement with liberal MR and centrist Les Engagés to form the Francophone majority in the power-sharing government.
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Francophone socialist PS slams the door on new Brussels government
Colin Clapson
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In recent days a breakthrough was reached on the Flemish side with ecologist Groen, nationalist N-VA, liberal Open VLD and socialist Vooruit agreed to form the Flemish majority in the government. The Brussels government shares power between Belgium's two main communities and needs a majority of lawmakers both in the Flemish and Francophone groups in the regional parliament.
The PS is walking away from government 'because of the agreement Flemish parties have reached'. It says that agreement questions 'the institutional balance of the Brussels Region and the interests of French-speakers' and 'the intentions of this document threaten the local policies of municipalities with regard to prevention, safety and social cohesion'. The Flemish agreement speaks of the merger of police zones, municipalities and local social services.
‘Racist and Islamophobic’
This morning, Brussels lawmaker Martin Casier (PS) castigated the document agreed under the leadership of Flemish formateur Elke Van den Brandt (Groen). ‘It contains institutional and community discussions that we have rejected for 20 years’. For the French-speaking socialists, that discussion should be held at the federal level.
Mr Casier also called the prospective Flemish nationalist coalition partner N-VA ‘racist and Islamophobic’, adding the PS was not vetoing the N-VA specifically.