Belgian federal government talks move forward

Negotiation on the formation of a federal government moved forward slightly yesterday following a meeting that brought together representatives from the four involved parties.

The meeting was organised by Kris Peeters of the Flemish Christian democrats CD&V and Charles Michel (pictured) of the French-speaking liberals MR, as they try to draw up a policy document acceptable to all four parties – their own, plus Flemish nationalists N-VA and Flemish liberals Open Vld.

One of the biggest hurdles they face is to hammer out the terms of a budget that involves cuts of €17.3 billion over the coming five years. Peeters tweeted yesterday that they had moved one step closer to a solution. “Constructive meeting. First elements in solving the budget achieved. Now the technical and bilateral talks begin,” he wrote.

The cuts – which are required to meet budgetary targets set by the European Union – will have to be achieved by reducing federal government expenditure in areas such as civil service jobs and the health-care sector. But all four parties will have to agree on the cuts before a government can be formed.

Peeters and Michel promised yesterday to keep the public informed as progress is made in the negotiations. Peeters would  not indicate where the cuts might be made, but admitted that some tough choices would have to be made. “We will proceed in a fair and balance way, but it isn’t going to be a piece of cake,” he said.

The slow pace of the negotiations is having an impact at the European level, where Belgium is the only country that has not yet appointed a candidate to sit on the European Commission. The EU has told Belgium to come up with a name by the end of August. The EU is putting further pressure on the negotiations by insisting that all the member states submit their budget plans by October 15.

But the proposed coalition has a weakness at its core as it includes just one relatively small French-speaking party, while excluding the powerful socialists. Yesterday, the Belgian constitutional expert Marc Uyttendaele wrote in Le Soir that MR would find it difficult to defend the interests of French-speaking Belgians if the three Flemish parties in the coaliton agreed on a proposal.

photo courtesy www.charlesmichel.be