On Wednesday Filip, King of Belgians, held his annual speech to representatives of Belgium’s institutions. Belgian PM De Wever (Flemish nationalist) also spoke. ‘You can sense that there is an understanding between the two men, that they help and understand each other,’ says VRT’s political editor Ivan De Vadder. ‘The Prime and King Filip reinforced each other in their speeches today.’
In their speeches on Wednesday morning to the so-called “established bodies” during the New Year’s reception at the palace, the king and the prime minister both delivered a warning message. ‘We must prepare ourselves for a long period of geopolitical and economic turmoil,’ said prime minister De Wever, who was also critical of US President Donald Trump, without mentioning him by name.
De Wever and King Filip recently met with President Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland). ‘I can imagine that little headway was made in that conversation and that the message from the US remains just as harsh, because the American president stuck to his guns,’ says De Vadder. What exactly was said in Davos falls under the “colloque singulier”, the agreement to be discreet about conversations with the king.
According to De Vadder, the good cooperation between De Wever and the king stems from pragmatism. ‘It remains a strange sight: a Flemish nationalist politician delivering a speech under a Belgian flag. But over the past year, the premier has shown that as a politician he can transform himself and that he is a great pragmatist.’