The Flemish liberal party Open VLD has said that it won’t be talking part in talks designed to pave the way for the formation of a new regional government in the Brussel-Capital Region. More than 9 months after the regional, federal and European elections, the Brussels-Capital Region is still without a government.
Flemish liberals won’t be taking part in talks about talks on the formation of new regional government in Brussels
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On Tuesday Open VLD’s chief negotiator Frédéric De Gucht (photo above) said that the Flemish nationalist party N-VA should be invited to the talks as well. However, as this has not been the case, Open VLD will not be attending the talks either. Last Friday, the two politicians that had been given the task of finding a way out of the political impasse, the Flemish green Elke Van den Brandt and the Francophone centrist Christophe De Beukelaer, said that the only credible option was a coalition made up of 3 Francophone parties (Liberals, socialists, centrists) and 4 Flemish parties (Greens, liberals, socialist, Christian democrats). This would have a majority among both language groups.
However, the Flemish greens, socialists, liberals and nationalists already had an agreement to form the Dutch-speaking half of the coalition. However, the inclusion of the Flemish nationalists in the coalition is being vetoed by the Francophone socialists.
At a meeting on Monday the Flemish liberals reiterated their stance that the nationals should be present at the talks. A further meeting is due to take place today. However, as the Flemish nationalist have not been invited, Open VLD won’t be attending either. The Flemish Liberals says that fresh negotiations only make sense if “previous agreements are respected, clear guarantees are given and the Francophone socialists do not gain the upper hand”.
“We regret that, as we had feared, we have lost another 3 weeks. Moreover, no answer has been given to our main concern; budgetary prudence and a return to a balanced budget as soon as possible”, the party said in a press statement.
Writing on the social media platform X, Mr De Gucht goes further " If we do not act now to stabilise the region's financial situation, build a resolute security policy, make Brussels cleaner and considerably raise our employment rate, we are heading for disaster. This requires support from the federal, Flemish and Walloon governments. Anyone that does not wish to see this is not taking Brussels seriously”.