De Wever moves budget deadline to Christmas after meeting with King Philippe
Prime minister Bart De Wever has extended the deadline for reaching a federal budget agreement to Christmas. De Wever made the decision after a meeting with his deputy prime ministers and a subsequent visit to the Royal Palace on Thursday.
De Wever is seeking to find 10 billion euros in savings by 2030, to restore Belgium's public finances. He had set a deadline of 6 November, so the budget could be agreed on before the end of the year. If the government did not manage to meet that deadline, De Wever threatened with a visit to the Royal Palace, potentially to resign as prime minister.
However, Belgium's government has not fallen just yet. After a final meeting with key ministers of the federal government on Thursday morning, De Wever did travel to the Royal Palace, to meet with King Philippe of Belgium. But instead of resigning, the prime minister has decided to push the deadline for a budget agreement to Christmas.
If De Wever and his coalition partners do not manage to come to an agreement by then, the federal government will most likely fall. This final deadline is meant to put pressure on the MR, which several coalition partners have pointed to as the main cause of the impasse. The French-speaking liberals continue to reject key measures in De Wever’s plan, including a VAT increase and a temporary suspension of wage indexation.
Provisional twelfths
Because of the delay, the federal government will begin 2026 under a provisional "twelve-month" emergency budget. This mechanism allows the state to keep operating month by month, limiting spending to one-twelfth of the previous year’s budget each month. While it guarantees essential payments such as salaries, pensions and healthcare, it prevents any new investments or policy initiatives.
Rudy Aernoudt, chief of cabinet of MR president Georges-Louis Bouchez, said on Thursday morning that using provisional twelfths "would not be that bad". "I think we might have to work with provisional twelfths for one or two months," he told Radio 1.
However, Belgium is under pressure from external sources, including the EU and credit rating agencies, to improve its public finances. And the longer the government operates under a provisional budget, the harder it will be to reduce the country's growing budget deficit.
Prime minister Bart De Wever and King Philippe of Belgium during the oath ceremony of the federal government in February 2025. © BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS
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