Belgium begins its well-known — and predictably — long dance to form a government. With the data from the federal and regional elections – in addition to the European elections – on Sunday barely digested, King Felipe began this Monday to receive the leaders of the most voted formations, shortly after formally accepting the resignation of the Prime Minister’s Government, the liberal Alexander De Croo who, however, will continue in office for the moment.
The Belgian institutional lasagna—named for the complexity and multiplicity of institutional and party layers—is just beginning to cook. The country has taken a general turn to the right that, despite everything, has not crystallized into the feared surprise ultra, since the Flemish far-right separatists of the Vlaams Belang have not achieved their goal, also predicted by the polls, of becoming the leading force in the country. The cordon sanitaire to this formation that despite everything continues to gain strength – in Flanders it has achieved 22.6% of the votes, placing itself as the second most voted party and with 31 of the 124 seats in the Flemish Parliament – can therefore be maintained , according to the first calculations, without putting the governability of the country at stake.
Even so, forming a new federal Cabinet is not going to be (never is) easy. The invitations issued by the Belgian royal house – in an order marked by the number of seats achieved – are a preview of the possible pools to form a Government, something that in Belgium usually lasts a long time (the country has the world record for days without a government , 541, between 2010 and 2011, which it almost surpassed just five years ago). The king of the Belgians planned to receive throughout this Monday first the leader of the Flemish nationalist party N-VA, Bart de Wever, which has managed to remain the leading force in Flanders and also has the largest number of seats, 24, in the federal parliament. The Flemish nationalist leader, who has recently moderated his language, even postponing an eventual independence for Flanders despite it being a priority for his party, has not hidden his desire to become prime minister.
Surprise from the center-right
This Monday, King Felipe also summoned the president of Vlaams Belang, Tom Van Grieken, and, finally, that of the French-speaking liberal MR, Jean-Louis Bouchez, whose center-right formation is the one that has given the biggest surprise by being the most voted. both in Wallonia and in the Brussels capital region, which will foreseeably give him a great voice when it comes to forming both regional and federal governments, especially due to the cordon sanitaire that rules out the ultra Vlaams Belang. Like De Wever, the liberal has also already begun to make the first calls to test possible government alliances.
Previously, mid-morning, the monarch had received, and accepted, the formal resignation of De Croo, who the day before acknowledged, through tears, the failure at the polls of his party, the Flemish liberal Open VLD. A setback that continues to have shock waves: according to the Belgian press, the leadership of the Flemish formation has presented his resignation. The new president of the party will be known before the end of the summer, the outgoing president, Tom Ongena, has announced. It is not the only formation in turmoil: according to several media, the leaders of the Défi (French-speaking federalists) and Ecolo (French-speaking green) parties have also announced their immediate departure.
Join Morning Express to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
De Croo is at the head of a seven-party government coalition that will now continue, at least until further notice, in mode current affairs,with limited functions to avoid a power vacuum and the paralysis of the country, something fundamental in a State like Belgium, where negotiations to form a Cabinet can last for months. In any case, diplomatic sources assure that “international obligations” are part of the powers of an acting government, so De Croo’s resignation will not affect the last remaining weeks of the Belgian rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, a short but transcendental period in which the first steps will begin to be taken to profile the new heads of the European institutions and their teams.
Follow all the international information onFacebook andxor inour weekly newsletter.
.
.
_
