tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15209462364232641492024-03-13T23:10:36.684+01:00Crisis in Belgiumblog about the present political crisis in Belgium, as events unfoldRolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-38592346310171466562020-10-01T20:34:00.000+02:002020-10-01T20:34:06.661+02:00Fixed again, after 494 days Alexander De Croo, 44 years old, and since 2012 deputy prime minister in the federal government for the Flemish liberals, is the new prime minister of Belgium. He presented the program of a seven-party coalition of two socialist, two liberal, two green and the Flemish Christian-democratic parties this afternoon in the plenary of the European Parliament (as the Belgian federal Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-71894251548906363272020-09-23T21:27:00.001+02:002020-09-24T11:30:48.310+02:00Two for the last straight line At day 484 of the Belgian government negotiations king Philip has at last been able to send out a real 'formateur' to create a new government. Correction: he has sent out two, strengthening the impression that much remains to be solved, not the least the name of the new prime minister. King Philip received the two 'pre-formateurs', Conner Rousseau (president of the Flemish socialists) Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-52310729024248969192020-09-12T10:39:00.000+02:002020-09-12T10:39:11.249+02:00Corona slowdown Belgian government negotiations, today in their 473th day, have slowed down this week, due to a positive corona-test last Tuesday of Egbert Lachaert, the president of the Flemish liberals and one of the two ‘pre-formateurs’. Other negotiators, and even king Philip, then also took the corona-test, but nobody had a positive result. Nevertheless, all have to stay at home to have a Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-27348495977676696432020-09-05T10:09:00.003+02:002020-09-05T10:09:48.820+02:00Did you say breakthrough? At day 465 in the Belgian government negotiations a breakthrough was announced: formal negotiations are going to start between seven political parties. King Philip appointed the previous negotiator Egbert Lachaert as ‘pre-formateur’ and added the president of the Flemish socialists, 27-years old Conner Rousseau, in the same role. That move is intriguing. In the last week LachaertRolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-61045039585072512562020-08-29T19:47:00.000+02:002020-08-29T19:47:51.700+02:00Last try, heading for center left King Philip has given Egbert Lachaert, the president of the Flemish liberals, one more week to start formal government negotiations in Belgium. At day 459 it seems that in three weeks there will be either a center-left government or a decision for new elections. Lachaert started his negotiations on 18 August. And although he refuses to confirm it explicitly, it is obvious Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-39939890760966728242020-08-18T19:09:00.001+02:002020-08-18T19:11:36.501+02:00The doubter to lift the doubt King Philip has appointed Egbert Lachaert, the new president of the Flemish liberals, to seek an outcome for the Belgian government formation, today in its 448th day. He received no official title, and will report on the 28th of August. The days of the still present government Wilmès II seem now numbered. King Philip started his consultations on his return from holiday on Monday Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-4241868018633694312020-08-14T19:24:00.000+02:002020-08-14T19:24:14.885+02:00Announcing failure Paul Magnette and Bart De Wever, the two royal negotiatiors that were sent out by king Philip on 20 July to form at last a Belgian government, have leaked to the press today that they will hand in their mission next Monday, in failure. Although this is as yet not official and leaves two full days for a last round of poker, the odds are that the best change to form a stable government Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-90658483377235082122020-07-20T21:17:00.001+02:002020-07-20T21:17:59.128+02:00Just like starting overOn Day 419 of Belgium’s agonizing search for a new federal government, suddenly there is what may be the beginning of a breakthrough. The two big boys take over, Paul Magnette from the Parti Socialiste and Bart De Wever from the Flemish nationalists. They formalized this to the outside world in a sober bow before king Philipp (both!) and distinct but coordinated video-messages on Twitter. &Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-85085285063402881692020-07-08T18:06:00.002+02:002020-08-20T15:29:20.273+02:00Fin de régimeThe last and already slightly dubious attempt to form a Belgian government has slid into ridicule in recent days. The formation process itself now seems more and more limited to an attempt to cover the long summer break before reaching the obvious conclusion: that the formation of a new Belgian government is no longer possible, at least not within the political landscape that came out of the Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-585382352170804672020-06-17T21:42:00.000+02:002020-06-17T21:42:03.574+02:00Towards earth via infinity Political pundits in Belgium were puzzled by a new twist in government negotiations, that looked in their eyes very much like a revamped old one. The (all three recently elected) presidents of the three parties that form the government Wilmès II, of whom two had already been government negotiators around Newyear, start a new search for a governmental majority. But they gave no indication Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-88832754182961877052020-06-16T12:57:00.000+02:002020-06-16T12:57:03.042+02:00Sniff sniff, who’s there?The sober tweets of the party-presidents, without images, Magnette not even in his own name, and with a minimum of what is called ‘engagements’ in twitter-statistics. Timid attempts to form a new Belgian government, 386 days after the last elections, ended yesterday in a timid report on recent very tentative talks. It ended also on a refusal of the present prime minister Sophie Wilmes to Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-8317817957115582242020-06-01T21:30:00.002+02:002020-06-02T08:30:18.005+02:00Mission Impossible
After three months of corona-management, negotiations to form a new Belgian government have started again. They take place in an informal way, although not completely hidden to the media and the public. The purpose is to replace the present government of Sophie Wilmès, that was sworn in on 17 March. That cabinet did its best to cope with the corona-crisis, but has lost all authority Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-44438281345637873942020-03-20T17:08:00.001+01:002020-03-20T17:08:55.217+01:00The wounds of change
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-23769405536054990712020-03-16T03:59:00.000+01:002020-03-16T03:59:32.951+01:00And yes, a corona-coalition
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-91853293746299712302020-03-15T21:25:00.000+01:002020-03-15T21:25:32.234+01:00How to cope with an emergency?
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-10959054117110481462020-03-14T22:29:00.000+01:002020-03-14T22:29:48.156+01:00High noon in the political corona
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-58719739739043599322020-03-14T11:03:00.000+01:002020-03-14T11:03:21.350+01:00Briefing: why Belgium public finances are on intensive care
The
political instability of Belgium has at least for the last decades always
interacted with its frail financial and institutional structures. Both are in
dire need of reform, so dire that questions arise if this is politically still feasible, certainly in these days of voters’ revolt and political
fragmentation.
Slightly more than a century ago, in the early
months of Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-49302910529954126882020-03-12T19:59:00.001+01:002020-03-12T19:59:39.150+01:00Briefing: why that electoral earthquake?
Election Day, 26 May 2019, clockwise: king Philip (in a cartoon of Erik Meynen, Flanders' most brilliant political cartoonist) watching with surprise the victory fiestas at the extreme right Vlaams Belang and the extreme left PTB, while the leaders of the Flemish nationalists, Bart De Wever, and the French-speaking Parti Socialiste, Elio di Rupo, swallow their defeat.
Forming
a Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-54089446597821109932020-03-09T21:15:00.001+01:002020-03-09T21:15:33.847+01:00Speeding up a standstill
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-50085057245808272662020-03-07T18:48:00.004+01:002020-03-07T18:48:49.458+01:00The lowest threshold
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-15340950365426157712020-03-01T14:53:00.000+01:002020-03-01T20:44:05.425+01:00Briefing: The mathematics of instability
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-34517105031164002020-02-19T20:22:00.000+01:002020-02-19T20:22:24.340+01:00Let us continue with the beginning
Strangers in the night: king Philip (left), Sabine Laruelle (middle) and Patrick Dewael (right), pictured by belga shortly before 7 pm this evening at the entrance of the palace in the centre of Brussels
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-80064377731816177992020-02-15T21:58:00.000+01:002020-02-17T08:29:00.463+01:00Day 262, on a long and winding road
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Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-68753770093215162392020-02-15T21:41:00.002+01:002020-08-20T15:30:05.376+02:00Another crisis in Belgium
It is,
alas, time to restart this blog again, for a fourth episode of Crisis in
Belgium, after 2007, 2010-11 and 2014. I have waited quite long this time,
hoping that there would be a compromise possible, even after the incredibly
dramatic electoral results of 26 May 2019. But since last Friday this seems
unlikely, at least in the short term. That is why we start our reporting again.
Rolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1520946236423264149.post-67397736595029646312014-10-12T15:05:00.000+02:002014-10-12T15:05:29.495+02:00This is the end ...
Belgium has a new government, sworn in at the Royal
Palace on Saturday. It represents, in any way, a big shake-up of much that
was common sense up to now in Belgian politics. But with some luck – and
dependant on the economic evolution of Europe and in Belgium – it could become a
major step towards stabilizing a country that only three years ago looked
poised for a break-upRolf Falterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12158226029966144012noreply@blogger.com11