Federal negotiations resume after heated discussion on tax reforms
Federal government negotiations will resume on Monday on a new socio-economic proposal by formateur Bart De Wever. Talks were due to take place last weekend, but were cancelled after a discussion on taxation was derailed on Friday.
Friday's meeting on tax reforms reportedly became a heated discussion on copyright, including personal remarks between MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez and outgoing Finance minister Vincent Van Peteghem of CD&V.
The two have a history of clashing over Van Peteghem's proposed tax reforms as part of the De Croo government. This reform did not happen, due to MR's opposition.
According to Het Laatste Nieuws, several negotiators present at Friday's meeting said that Bouchez shouted at Van Peteghem. "Find another job! I'll personally see to it that you'll never be a minister again," the MR leader is reported to have said. CD&V leader Sammy Mahdi and Vooruit leader Conner Rousseau then also got involved.
"Find another job! I'll personally see to it that you'll never be a minister again"
Delayed talks
N-VA negotiator Theo Francken told VRT's De Zevende Dag programme on Sunday that the discussion had become "heated". "Copyright concerns a lot of money, within Vivaldi [a nickname for the outgoing government] there was a lot of discussion about it, and that came up again."
According to several sources, the fierce debate led to the cancellation of last weekend's planned negotiations. MR denies that this was the reason for the delay, saying that the parties were simply given more time to go through De Wever's new proposal.
Not the first clash
This is not the first time that Bouchez has clashed personally with other federal negotiators, particularly the socialist party Vooruit. In August, he reportedly called its leader Conner Rousseau a "little child", while Flemish minister Melissa Depraetere called him "completely untrustworthy" in June.
But Francken remains optimistic about the talks, saying on Sunday that negotiators had made good progress in many other areas. On asylum and migration, for example, 112 out of 120 discussion points have been worked out. And "we will eventually get through" on taxation too, he said.
MR's Georges-Louis Bouchez and outgoing Finance minister Vincent Van Peteghem © BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND
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