The Flemish greens and Francophone centrists of Les Engagés have launched an initiative to try and revive the Brussels government formation talks after Francophone liberal David Leisterh (MR) threw in the towel as formateur on Friday. All parties except the Flemish hard right Vlaams Belang have been invited to talks.
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Brussels quagmire: will PS lift its veto against Flemish nationalist N-VA?
Colin Clapson
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Christophe De Beukelaer (Les Engagés) and Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) have joined forces in Brussels. It’s more or less out of necessity, because after the departure of formateur David Leisterh (Francophone liberal and Brussels’s largest party), the second largest party, the Francophone socialist PS, is reluctant to try and resolve the situation.
The Flemish greens and Les Engagés are jointly launching a new round of talks with all parties except Vlaams Belang. ‘The resignation of David Leisterh should be seen as an electroshock for the whole Brussels political world,’ Mr De Beukelaer told VRT. ‘Maybe that shock can also change the positions of Brussels parties. We want to investigate that.’
The politicians are stepping back from the formation process and are concentrating on collecting information. ‘A formateur works with texts around content,’ Ms Van den Brandt explained. ‘But we must first see with which parties and within which outlines we can do that.’
Ms Van den Brandt hopes that by working in this way, certain parties will open up a bit more. According to Mr De Beukelaer, this is the case and all parties are now ready to ‘put their egos and vetoes aside’. He and Ms Van den Brandt are bringing them to the negotiating table to let them talk about their disagreements.
PS veto against Bart De Wever’s Flemish nationalist N-VA
Mr De Beukelaer says his party wants to set an example. ‘Les Engagés did not want to speak with minority rights party Team Fouad Ahidar. ‘But today everyone is invited to the information round. My party has to question its own vetoes as well.’
Does the Francophone PS feel the same way? ‘Yes, we feel that all parties want to come to talks in a constructive atmosphere’ says the Flemish green. Also with the N-VA? ‘The question put to the PS was to come to the talks without any vetoes against Dutch-speaking parties and to show openness,’ Ms Van den Brandt stresses. And what if there is a veto? ‘Even then we will continue to talk, however difficult and atypical that may be.’
The plan is to be able again to appoint a formateur, preferably Mr Leisterh again. ‘We hope he will be available, because he has our total trust,’ Mr De Beukelaer added.