Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever gave his deadlocked ruling coalition more time to agree on a cost-cutting budget on Thursday, staving off fears of an imminent government collapse. The straight-talking Flemish conservative — who only became premier in February after seven months of painstaking negotiations — set a new 50-day deadline to strike a deal. That came after he had sought to pile pressure on his governing partners by dangling the prospect that he could resign over the failure to agree on 10 billion euros ($11 billion) of savings by 2030.
De Wever — who earlier insisted he wanted to reach an agreement by Thursday — said he had told Belgium’s King Philippe he now wanted until Christmas to get there. “I immediately added that this would be the maximum timeframe,” De Wever said in an address to parliament. Talks over the new budget have already dragged on for several months, missing a number of self-imposed deadlines. De Wever says the spending cuts are vital to help reduce Belgium’s eye-watering national debt, one of the steepest in the European Union. He is calling for a series of “historic” reforms to liberalise Belgium’s labour market, curb high unemployment benefits and cut back on pension costs.
“Tomorrow’s prosperity begins with today’s courage. Let’s dare to make the reforms that will bear fruit in a few years,” De Wever told lawmakers. But trying to get a disparate five-party coalition that includes French-speaking economic liberals and Dutch-speaking socialists to agree on what needs to be done is proving tough. While those on the right are rigidly opposed to hiking taxes, the left is pushing to hit the wealthy harder rather than slash benefits.
De Wever, a cat-loving former mayor of Antwerp known for his three-piece suits, is hoping the additional breathing space will pay off and he can solve the deadlock. A long-time proponent of independence for his Flemish-speaking region, he would be loath to relinquish the post of prime minister after years of questing for the top job. The stand-off over the budget comes at a sensitive time for the country, after unexplained drone flights shut down several Belgian airports earlier this week.
De Wever chaired an emergency security meeting on Thursday over the incidents, with ministers saying they would look to step up the ability of authorities to monitor drones. As the budget talks consume his attention at home, De Wever is also facing pressure himself on the European stage for holding up a potential mammoth EU loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets. The vast majority of those assets are housed in the international deposit organization Euroclear in Belgium, and De Wever has insisted he needs strict guarantees from EU counterparts before giving his green light.
© 2024 AFP
