The head of the Christen Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) party, Sammy Mahdi, on Wednesday urged potential members of the incoming ruling coalition to exemplify "mutual respect" and overcome their inhibitions.
All parties need to be constructive, Mahdi added, as he arrived at the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) headquarters, accompanied by outgoing Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem.
Formateur Bart De Wever decided to host individual meetings on Wednesday with the four parties tipped to form the future federal coalition with the N-VA. These are Flemish socialist party Vooruit, CD&V, Mouvement Reformateur (MR) and Les Engagés. A plenary meeting was expected to follow.
De Wever is scheduled to report to the King on Thursday.
The aim of Wednesday's meetings is to resolve the current deadlock within the prospective coalition: the potential partners are divided over a tax reform proposal, particularly the MR on the right and Vooruit on the left.
Sammy Mahdi dismissed the idea of adjusting the prospective coalition by replacing Vooruit with the Open Vld (Flemish liberals).
He feels such an arrangement would be "too unstable" to successfully implement projected reforms. It would have only 76 seats out of 150 in the Chamber, and no majority on the Flemish side.
“People are waiting for a government with this team,” he concluded.
