2024-11-07 05:00:00
07 November 2024
06:00
After the elections, we follow the evolution of the political landscape and government negotiations in the other part of the country. In a weekly column, our colleagues at Tijd look back on the most significant events in Flanders.
While the negotiations on the Arizona coalition bit the dust at the end of yet another clash between the cowboys (the center right) and the Redskins (Vooruit) of the Belgian political landscape, the Flemish liberals return to the forefront as possible final water carriers of trainer Bart De Wever. A scenario that’s too blue?
In truth, the team of five parties called until recently to form the new federal majority – N-VA, CD&V and Vooruit on the Flemish side, and MR and Les Engagés on the French-speaking side – leaned, from the start of the discussions, a little too far to the right to please Conner Rousseau and his troops. They quickly realized this when the liberal Georges-Louis Bouchez took out his gun as soon as the first new taxes on capital appeared in the trainer’s drawing.
“Bart De Wever is now taken hostage by the MR.”
Since then, well aware that they were only there to supplement Parliament, Vooruit socialists have continued to drag their feet throughout recent monthsfeeling too isolated to bring together, to their advantage, the two sides of an ideological chasm which has all the makings of a Grand Canyon on a Belgian scale.
But today, the situation has been reversed: Bart De Wever is now taken hostage by the MR, believes one of Vooruit’s leaders and negotiators, Frank Vandenbroucke.
The little Belgian world turned upside down
This is what makes all the salt, and the originality of this federal crisis. Traditionally, center-right Flanders eager for structural reforms comes up against a center-left French-speaking Belgium resistant to any in-depth change. A blockage which, in the past, has often resulted, as an honorable way out, in a new reform of the State.
But today, the world is upside down. Flemish people, certainly on the left, refuse to engage in discussions on a text, proposed by a nationalist candidate for the post of Prime Minister, which the MR and Les Engagés accept as a basis for negotiation. We will console ourselves for this new failure by pointing out that, for once, community dissensions do not poison the formation of the federal government.
A Flemish-Flemish crisis
The epicenter of the federal crisis is therefore located in the north of the country. The Flemish press has been passionate for years about the “bromance” between the big boss of the right, Bart De Wever, and the wonder boy of the left, Conner Rousseau. A tandem deemed capable of governing together, despite their ideological differences.
And this is what they succeed in doing at different levels of power. In the Flemish government, they form a coalition with the CD&V, the majority’s “junior” partner. In Antwerp, where Bart De Wever is still mayor, the socialists remain in his coalition. Of the 13 large Flemish municipalities, Vooruit could soon be part of 11 majorities. It was only in Aalst that they were ejected. In Kortrijk, the battle continues.
In this sense, Rousseau has already reaped a good spoils. At the local level, it remains above all to emerge a winner from the ongoing battle in Ghent. The liberal-socialist Voor Gent cartel concluded a coalition agreement there with the N-VA, which socialist activists rejected at a congress on Sunday. A real snub for the leadership of the socialist party, which the N-VA, however, did not find amusing. The Ghent ecologists are now striving to gain a majority with the red-blue cartel, even if relations between the three parties – which have governed together for the last six years – have deteriorated significantly.
Only patch of blue sky?
This is how, for the first time, the possibility of an alternative to Arizona is seriously considered. In any case, it is the aspiration of Georges-Louis Bouchez to exclude Vooruit from the profile of the Open Vld, which would make the most important liberal family in the coalition.
The Flemish liberals do not seem to want to take the baitreluctant to put back in the saddle a De Wever who, on the electoral level, sheared the wool from their backs. This new configuration would, moreover, only have a majority of 76 seats, which would give each MP a right of veto. Et the CD&V is not taking.
The alternative configurations to this “all blue” scenario resemble so many mirages in this political desert coming out of the Arizona sequence.
Not to mention that Bart De Wever should explain to his supporters that he is making the choice, seen as sacrilege by Flemish nationalists, to lead a federal government which would not be supported by a Flemish majority in the Chamber.
And yet, perhaps it is the only point of water that appears on the horizonif the king accepts De Wever’s resignation next Tuesday. Because the alternative configurations to this “all blue” scenario resemble so many mirages in this political desert coming out of the Arizona sequence.
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It seems you’ve shared a detailed discussion of the current political situation in Belgium, highlighting the tensions and negotiations between various political parties, particularly focusing on the Vooruit socialists, Bart De Wever of the N-VA, and the liberal MR party. The situation appears complex, with ideological divides and shifting alliances impacting the formation of the federal government.
Here are some key points drawn from the passage:
1. **Ideological Tensions**: There is a marked divide between the Flemish center-right and the Francophone center-left, which has traditionally led to federal government formation challenges. However, the dynamics are shifting, with the Flemish left becoming more reticent to engage with propositions from nationalist parties.
2. **Hostage Situation**: Frank Vandenbroucke, a negotiator for Vooruit, suggested that Bart De Wever is now “taken hostage” by the liberal MR party, indicating a significant shift in power dynamics within the negotiations.
3. **Local Governance**: Despite difficulties at the federal level, there’s been some successful local governance in Flanders, with cooperation between left and right parties at the municipal level. Vooruit has been successful in forming coalitions in several municipalities, except in a few cases like Aalst.
4. **Challenges Ahead**: The discussions around the potential exclusion of Vooruit from coalitions hint at a precarious future for the party, as well as potential challenges in finding a stable government majority, especially as tensions grow among parties that have previously worked together.
5. **Future Speculations**: The possibility of reshaping the coalition dynamics is being contemplated, but reluctance from the Flemish liberals to fully align with De Wever given past electoral dynamics suggests that consensus may still be far off.
this passage paints a picture of a complex and evolving political landscape in Belgium, where ideological cooperation and negotiations are crucial for governance amid significant opposing perspectives.
