Brussels, Nov 26 (IANS) Belgium’s King Philippe has extended the mission of Bart De Wever as formateur in leading negotiations for forming a new Belgian federal government.
After being updated with the latest developments, the Belgian King asked the formateur De Wever to “continue his work and to reach a conclusion as soon as possible,” Belgium’s Royal Palace said in a press release on Monday.
De Wever, President of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and winner of the June 9 legislative elections has been trying to bring together five key parties: the N-VA, the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V), the socialist Vooruit, the French-speaking Reformist Movement (MR) and the centrist Les Engages, to form a federal government, Xinhua news agency reported.
The negotiations, marked by persistent disagreements, focus mainly on socio-economic and institutional reforms deemed essential by some parties but viewed as unbalanced by others. Key contentious issues include the healthcare budget and fiscal reforms.
Due to the economic, social and administrative complexities of Belgium’s three regions, the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels-Capital regions, and its three linguistic communities speaking Dutch, French and German respectively, the formation of the federal government is typically a lengthy negotiation process.
In August, De Wever resigned as the federal formateur as negotiations went deadlocked. The Belgian King reappointed him as federal formateur on September 2 greenlighted by other parties.
On November 2, De Wever’s resignation was rejected again by the Belgian King. De Wever is now expected to present a new report to the Belgian Monarch by December 10, trying to break the current political impasse.
–IANS
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