Belgian premier Bart De Wever’s deadline of Thursday for agreement on a multi-year budget is approaching fast. The premier has set a goal of ‘finding’ 10 billion euros either through new taxes or government cuts, but last night federal coalition partners parted ways without agreement. Bilateral talks between the PM and deputy premiers representing each of the parties in the 5-way coalition continue Wednesday.
At around 9 p.m., the federal ministers parted ways without reaching an agreement.
‘The temperature of the atmosphere has dropped well below freezing,’ one source told VRT News. Several sources point to the attitude of the Francophone liberal MR, which they claim seems unwilling to reach an agreement, as the reason. The party is opposing a VAT hike and higher taxes for Belgium's wealthiest, but has now reportedly also indicated which measures it believes could raise cash. The coalition partners also took issue with a planned visit by MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez to Unizo East Flanders on Wednesday. Bouchez also invited the press to attend his visit to the local federation for the self-employed, on the eve of the crucial budget deadline.
The MR leader's tweets, in which he clashed with N-VA chair Valerie Van Peel on social media, did not help the atmosphere either. In a video posted on social media, Van Peel had called it ‘unbelievable’ that some fellow party leaders did not recognise the urgency of the situation and ‘did not dare to step out of their own shadow’.
If no deal can be reached by the deadline PM De Wever may visit King Filip to tender his resignation. It then remains to be seen if the monarch will accept his premier’s offer or in true Belgian style will send him back to the negotiating table in the hope of still thrashing out a deal.