EUROPE
Belgium gets new nationalist-led government

Five Belgian parties reached a coalition deal on Friday to form a new government led by Flemish conservative Bart De Wever (ECR), after more than seven months of tortuous negotiations, AFP reports. 

The deal paves the way for Bart De Wever, who came out on top in last year’s federal elections that failed to produce a clear-cut coalition, to become the first nationalist from the Dutch-speaking region to become Belgian prime minister. 

The new coalition, dubbed the Arizona coalition after the colours of the US state flag, the new coalition bridges both political and linguistic divides. 

The new government brings together three parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders: De Wever’s conservative N-VA (ECR), the centrist Christian-Democrats (EPP) and the leftist Vooruit (Onward) (S&D). It also includes two from French-speaking Wallonia: the centrist Les Engages (RE) and the centre-right Reformist Movement (RE). 

Notably, the new coalition does not include Vlaams Belang (PfE), a Flemish nationalist party that calls for the secession of the Flemish region from Belgium.  

Together, the new coalition has a majority of 81 seats in Belgium’s 150-seat parliament. 

Overcoming political and linguistic barriers 

Split between French- and Dutch-speaking communities and with a highly complex political system, Belgium has an unenviable record of painfully protracted coalition talks – reaching 541 days between 2010 and 2011. 

The Belgian constitution dictates that the Council of Ministers, the executive organ of the government, to have an equal number of French- and Dutch-speaking ministers forcing parties to forge a government across Belgium’s northern and southern regions. 

In early January, Belgian King Philippe, the country’s head of state, issued an ultimatum to De Wever to move the stalled talks forward. Either De Wever reach a deal before the end of January – or the country would go to the polls. 

De Wever had threatened to throw in the towel on the coalition hunt if no deal was reached on Friday – and the deal was struck with just hours to go. 

Negotiators needed one final marathon 60-hour session to hammer iron out differences over their 800-page programme. 

De Wever will take over from Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose seven-party coalition took 493 days to form in 2019-2020, and who had remained as caretaker leader since June’s elections. 

With its new government, Belgium joins a growing list of European countries led by nationalist forces. Italy’s Giorgia Meloni (ECR) and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán (PfE) are already in office, while Austria’s chancellor hopeful, Robert Kickl (PfE), appears to be next in line.  

(Magnus Lund Nielsen)

[DE]

Source: Euractiv.com

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