The European Commission is still assessing a request by Belgium to postpone the submission of its multiannual budget plan to an unspecified date, the Commission Spokesperson's Service said on Friday.
The Belgian authorities wrote on 26 December to the Commission's Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs, Maarten Verwey, to request the new postponement.
Belgium's 2025-2029 medium-term budgetary and structural plan was originally due to be submitted on 20 September, but the country, whose incoming government is still being formed, was granted a postponement until the end of 2024.
In their letter, the Belgian authorities said they hoped to be able to submit this plan "in the near future," but did not specify a date.
Meanwhile, formateur Bart De Wever (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is still trying to bring to cobble together a federal coalition of five parties. The grouping, known as the 'Arizona Coalition,' would comprise the N-VA, Mouvement Réformateur (MR), Les Engagés, Vooruit, and Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) parties.
De Wever is due to report back to the King on his mission on 7 January. He then intends to ask for a final extension in order to set up a new government by the end of January. The Antwerp mayor puts his chances of success at 50-50.
The multi-annual budget plan consists of a trajectory that respects the requirements of the new European budgetary rules. It must also include reforms and investments that justify extending the adjustment period from four to seven years, which would make the effort less painful.
At the end of November, the European Commission provisionally recommended a four-year corrective path for Belgium, linked to an ongoing excessive deficit procedure.
