The man leading the negotiations for the formation of a new federal coalition government Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) met with Belgium’s Head of State King Filip on Tuesday afternoon. Mr De Wever arrived at the Royal Palace just after 4pm. In a meeting that lasted well over an hour, he brought the King up to speed on the progress made in the negotiations so far.
Bart De Wever was unable to tell the King that there has been a breakthrough in the talks between his own Flemish nationalist party N-VA, the Francophone liberal party MR, the Flemish socialist party Vooruit and the Francophone centrist party Les Engagés. There are still a number of sticking points that need to be overcome. Nevertheless, King Filip has decided to prolong Mr De Wever’s mission as ‘Formateur’ until 20 December
There has been criticism from some parties around the table that Mr De Wever has thus far been too preoccupied with the figures in the budget table he had drawn up and has paid too little attention to concrete measures that would be taken if he were to lead a new federal coalition made up of the parties that are currently involved in the negotiations.
VRT News sources report that he now plans a change of tactics and that from now on the focus will switch to pension reform, the labour market and fiscal measures.