Negotiators for a new Belgian government reached an agreement last night on the thorny issue of the break-up of the
electoral district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, the largest electoral district
in Belgium and the only one with both Flemish and French-speaking voters. This
is an issue that caused the fall of the last government and has remained
unsolved for 48 years.
After 459 days of negotiations the agreement was hailed as truly historic,
in a Belgian dimension. The district will be split-up into Brussels (mainly French-speaking)
and Halle-Vilvoorde (mainly Flemish). In six villages with large numbers of French-speaking
voters (indeed in five of them a majority), citizens will be able to choose for
candidates of the Brussels district if they prefer this. Other subtle
compromises in the package have to deflate the symbolism of this issue on both
sides.
Of course the agreement will have to hold in the discussions of the next
days. And the real work of negotiations has still to begin: budget cuts for 20
bn € in the next four years and a new financial framework for Belgian
federalism. But the fact that an agreement was reached on this highly symbolic
issue, signals for the first time after 459 days of negotiations that eight
parties around the table of formateur Elio di Rupo are trusting each other
enough to step together in a new government.
The
breakthrough came after a serious dramatization in the night of Tuesday on
Wednesday. After the umpteenth round of useless talks - with French-speaking
and Flemish politicians sitting apart in different rooms - Mr. di Rupo, who
leads the negotiations, at 2:30 am
issued and angry statement saying that these were 'extremely blocked' and that
he would start an 'ultimate attempt' in the afternoon at 2 pm. King Albert, who
was at the cote d'Azur, was asked to return to Belgium.
The sense
of dramatization - which was partially sought, of course - was still sharpened
by the announcement of the caretaking prime minister, the Flemish christian democrat
Yves Leterme, that he would take up a new post as deputy secretary-general of
the OECD in Paris at the beginning of next year.
Leterme had
before announced that he would start Friday discussions inside the caretaking
government on the budget of 2012 that has to be proposed to the Belgian
parliament at the beginning of October. To reach the budgetary targets for 2012
that were accepted by the European Commission earlier this year, budget cuts of
around 6 bn € are needed.
Negotiations to form a new federal government in Belgium have been taken
place for 459 days now since the last parliamentary elections (June 13, 2010).
One of the big winners then, the Flemish nationalists, left these negotiations
at the beginning of July. Since then Mr. Elio di Rupo, the president of the
French-speaking socialists, the other big winner of the elections, has
tried to form a government with eight parties: Flemish and French-speaking
socialists, liberals, christian democrats and greens.
Belgium
is not in the frontline of exposed countries in the Eurocrisis, but surely in
the second line (on the same level as France) as far as the (in)famous spreads
on long term govenment bonds are concerned. It has for the moment one of best
growths in the Eurozone, but still a debt of 97 % of gdp (88 % being the
average in the eurozone), that is no longer growing. It's year-on budget
deficit is about 3,5 % gdp and declining.
It could go fast now, following a good Belgian tradition that once
the first compromise is reached the next ones follow on rapidly, regardless of
their content. Nevertheless expect still at least a few weeks before there
might be – at last – a new Belgian government.
