The man leading the talks on the formation of a new Federal Government, the Flemish nationalist leader, Bart De Wever set himself the deadline of 31 January. It is on Friday that Mr De Wever will once again meet with King Filip. With just over 4 days left, the Flemish Nationalists (N-VA), Christian Democrats (CD&V) and Social Democrats (Vooruit), the Francophone Liberals (MR) and the Francophone centrists (Les Engagés) have still to reach a coalition agreement.
The moment of truth beckons for Bart De Wever, will Belgium have a new Federal Government by the end of the week?
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Last week, there were once again disagreements over some of the more sensitive topics that are being discussed such as tax reform and pensions.
A planned meeting with of the leaders of all 5 parties on Sunday was cancelled after both Vooruit and CD&V rejected a so-called “Super note” policy document tabled by Bart De Wever as “leaning too far to the right”. Instead Mr De Wever held bilateral talks with each of the party leaders individually. On Monday and Tuesday, only topics that are not related to the socio-economic reforms will be discussed.
From Wednesday, however, the disputed issues will be back on the agenda. These include the budget, pension reform, the relaxation of wage and salary indexation and the possible introduction of capital gains tax (or a solidarity levy, as the negotiators are calling the tax).
The only left of centre party at the table, Vooruit, said during the weekend it would not accepted any changes that would weaken the way in what wages in Belgium are index-linked.
Nevertheless, Mr De Wever still hopes that the parties will be able to reach a coalition agreement before he meets the King on Friday.