Talks on next year’s Flemish government budget are not going smoothly and the stress is starting to tell. The budget should have been finalised today to allow Flemish PM Matthias Diependaele (Flemish nationalist N-VA) to deliver his annual policy statement, the September Declaration, to the Flemish Parliament. But many hours of stressful negotiations against the clock have taken their toll.
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Negotiators fall ill as Flemish budget talks take their toll
Colin Clapson
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The chief of staff representing governing Flemish socialist Vooruit has been rushed to hospital while Christian democrat Deputy Prime Minister Hilde Crevits also fell ill this morning and has left the talks. Her colleague, Farm Minister Jo Brouns, will continue discussions on behalf of Flemish Christian democrat CD&V. In the light of the illnesses PM Diependaele has postponed the September Declaration saying health went before everything.
The September Declaration was due to be delivered to the Flemish Parliament shortly and has been postponed.
‘Deputy Prime Minister Depraetere (Vooruit) and Minister Gennez (Vooruit) have decided, in consultation with Prime Minister Diependaele (N-VA) and the CD&V ministers, to temporarily suspend the talks,’ reports VRT News political correspondent Bart Verhulst.
“Shortly after noon, we saw an ambulance pull up in a side street off the Martelaarsplein, the seat of the Flemish PM. It turned out that an official – Vooruit’s chief of staff – had been taken ill. It wasn’t just a case of feeling ‘a bit unwell’, as an ambulance from the emergency medical team also rushed to the scene. This has had an impact on the talks taking place inside.”
It has been announced that the September Declaration, a policy statement, which is traditionally delivered by the Flemish PM on the afternoon of the fourth Monday in September, will not be able to go ahead.
“A decision still needs to be made on when the talks will resume, and they must still conclude with a final agreement,” explains Verhulst. Only then can the September Declaration be delivered. Wednesday has now been pencilled in for this long-awaited important event.