As many Belgians enjoy a long holiday weekend at the start of the Flemish half-term, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist N-VA) is tendering his resignation to the King on Monday morning. The federal leader was unable to reach an agreement with his coalition partners on the budget.
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Prime Minister Bart De Wever offers King Filip his resignation
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Budget talks among the partners of the 5-way government have broken down for the time being at least: how did it come to this?
Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) is tendering his resignation to the King, as he was unable to reach an agreement on the budget. This is now officially a “political crisis”, concludes VRT NEWS political journalist Bart Verhulst. Does this also spell the end of the government? And what happens next?
Prime Minister Bart De Wever has been unable to reach an agreement on the budget with his coalition partners Flemish socialist Vooruit, Flemish Christian democrat CD&V, Francophone liberal MR and Francophone centrist Les Engagés. Negotiators parted ways again last night without a deal.
In substance, the deadlock centres mainly on a single issue. “It’s at a standstill because socialist Vooruit wants people with the ‘strongest shoulders’ to make greater efforts, as do centrist Les Engagés and Christian democrat CD&V. On the other hand, you have Flemish nationalist N-VA and conservative liberal MR – a classic left-right divide, in other words,” analyses Verhulst.
MR Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval voiced opposition to “too much taxation, while according to Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés), listing all the sticking points would take “an eternity”.
Prime Minister De Wever subsequently concluded that reaching an agreement was (for the time being) impossible and announced that he would tender his resignation to King Filip. A “dramatic turn of events”, concludes Verhulst. “If this isn’t a political crisis, then I don’t know what is.”
What happens next?
King Filip sees Prime Minister De Wever at the Palace at 9.30 am to discuss the deadlock. “Either the King accepts the resignation, in which case the government will fall, or the King will take time to consider the resignation and give De Wever more time, as he did last year,” says Verhulst. In principle, a new majority could also be found without the need for new elections.
A move in a well-versed Belgian political playbook
A year ago, the De Wever government found itself in much the same situation. Back then, too, the search for 10 billion euros proved fruitless. Although Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) did not tender his resignation in early November 2025, he did ask the King to extend the deadline. He was granted an extra 50 days. “That was a kind of leverage at the time. Now the word ‘resignation’ is being used explicitly,” explains Verhulst.
On 24 November 2025, an agreement was finally reached to make savings of 9.2 billion euros. Will they manage to reach an agreement this time around as well?
“In principle, they could meet again as early as late this morning, for a final attempt to reach a deal tonight and be able to go to parliament tomorrow. Or we’re heading for something far worse.” In any case, De Wever is determined to avoid the so-called ‘twelfths’ at all costs.
A budget with so called twelfths involves mirroring expenditure and income from this year’s budget each month next year.