De Wever switches to bilateral talks amid deep budget deadlock

Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever switched to bilateral talks with his deputy prime ministers on Wednesday in an effort to get the stalled budget negotiations back on track. He decided to return to one-on-one talks because Tuesday’s core cabinet meeting ended in failure.

The government aims to save 10 billion euros by 2030 to restore Belgium’s public finances. De Wever wants a deal by Thursday. Failing that, he threatened to go to the Royal Palace, possibly to offer his resignation to King Philippe.

Despite mounting pressure from the prime minister, talks broke off earlier than expected on Tuesday evening. Several coalition partners blamed the liberal MR for blocking progress, with one source saying relations between the partners have soured considerably.

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The French-speaking liberals continue to oppose an increase in VAT, a key measure in De Wever’s plan to reach 10 billion euros in savings. Their counterproposals, including deeper healthcare cuts and the re-legalisation of disposable vapes, have been dismissed by other parties as unrealistic or unacceptable.

Tensions reportedly boiled over when news broke that MR chairman Georges-Louis Bouchez was due to give a speech to SME business leaders in East Flanders on Wednesday evening, while the budget talks remained deadlocked. Sources said Tuesday’s meeting resulted in “a total eruption.”

Could De Wever resign?

Vooruit has also faced criticism for slowing down the process, though they insist they remain open to negotiation. The Flemish socialists point out that in terms of long-term sickness (the policy area of Health minister Frank Vandenbroucke), they have a detailed plan ready that could yield 2 billion euros by 2029.

As such, the new round of talks began Wednesday with little optimism. Still, De Wever is expected to wait until Thursday before heading to the Palace, if only for practical reasons: King Philippe is currently in Doha for the World Summit for Social Development and will only return to Belgium on Wednesday night.

^{PHOTO © NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP}

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