The Francophone liberal MR party will bring "all democratic formations" together around the table to define a working method for "finally forming a government in the Brussels Region," said leader Georges-Louis Bouchez. The party wants to meet on Friday afternoon.
Nearly a year after the elections, MR presented an 80-page policy statement to make "Brussels take its fate into its own hands" last week. They sent the document to all parties, except radical left PTB-PVDA, Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang and regionalist newcomer Team Fouad Ahidar. By Monday, all of them had issued a response.
"We want to bring together all the parties that responded to the note to propose a working method, starting from the text," said Brussels MR leader David Leisterh. The parties that will be present are asked to confirm their presence and to limit their representation to one person per party.
However, it remains to be seen which parties will accept the invitation. The meeting is planned to take place from 15:00 to 17:00 on Friday, Leisterh said.
"We received some positive responses to our text, including a letter from Zakia Khattabi (leader of the Francophone greens Ecolo) saying that her party wants to enter into talks," Bouchez said. "We are now in a position to organise a plenary meeting."
However, Khattabi made it clear on Tuesday that Ecolo will not participate in the negotiations, as it forces the party to enter into discussions with Flemish nationalist N-VA.
PS not invited
Vlaams Belang, PTB-PVDA and Team Fouad Ahidar have not been invited to these talks, Bouchez stressed. Strikingly, neither has the Francophone socialist PS, "which has not responded to us and has said that it will not read our memorandum," he added.
According to Bouchez, the responses mean that they "are on the way to a coalition agreement, which should be finalised by the beginning of July at the latest." For MR, this agreement will be reached without the French-speaking socialists, who are still calling for a left-wing majority with PTB-PVDA and Team Fouad Ahidar.
Bouchez said that he does not understand why the socialists vetoed a government with Flemish nationalist N-VA, the party of Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA). "Especially since, if we lose N-VA, we also lose Open VLD and we no longer have a majority on the Flemish side."
MR David Leisterh and MR leader Georges-Louis Bouchez during a press conference about a proposal for the negotiations to form a new government for the Brussels Capital Region. Credit: Belga/Eric Lalmand
He added that Flemish greens Groen, socialist Vooruit and, to a lesser extent, Francophone greens Ecolo have responded positively to MR's text – although all three are also in talks with PS, which is aiming to form a progressive coalition. "At some point, we will clearly ask them to make a choice."
In the meantime, however, Ecolo's Khattabi criticised MR for "wanting to force the issue" through a strategy of coercion and crossing red lines – saying that "the truth has its rights." To that post, she added the response she sent to Brussels MR leader David Leisterh.
"We take note of MR's policy statement. At first glance, we welcome certain commitments," she said. This includes the desire to simplify certain administrative procedures, the focus on combating domestic violence and the recognition of the role of local authorities in community policy.
However, "these positive elements cannot hide the general thrust of a text that remains deeply rooted in a purely liberal vision, focused on competitiveness, individual responsibility and a utilitarian approach to environmental issues," stressed Khattabi. She also emphasised that the climate crisis cannot be reduced to a chapter or paragraph, or seen as an economic opportunity.
'Mixed' answers
For Ecolo, the text also crosses a number of red lines, such as the abolition of child benefits from the fourth child onwards, which "represents a worrying social regression" and "threatens to make the situation even more precarious for large families, who are often already in a precarious situation."
Another problem is "the questioning of the universal nature of certain social rights, such as benefits or access to healthcare, through conditions or budgetary constraints." Khattabi also pointed to "the announced intention to limit certain energy and housing subsidies, at a time when the most vulnerable are already bearing the brunt of the consequences of the inflation and climate crisis."
Meanwhile, Leisterh said that they had received answers, "some of them rather mixed, but they are there," he said. "A government with a majority in both language groups seems feasible."
A year after the elections, there is "a constructive atmosphere" among the potential partners, he said. "And it is not a bad idea to build on that, given that Standard & Poor's is walking around with its calculator." The S&P credit rating agency came to Brussels last week to gather information ahead of a new rating for the Capital Region on 13 June.
Ecolo's Zakia Khattabi. Credit: Belga/Hatim Kaghat
Since N-VA has responded positively to his text, the party was also invited, despite resistance from some French-speaking parties, such as regionalist DéFI, to govern with N-VA. "Other parties are insisting on the presence of N-VA. Let's just talk about the content now," Leisterh emphasised.
On Tuesday afternoon, DéFI made it clear that it is not yet prepared to sit down at the negotiating table unless there is a majority on the French-speaking side. Party leader Sophie Rohonyi and outgoing Brussels Minister Bernard Clerfayt said that forcing DéFI "to join the N-VA in a majority that only MR still believes in" amounts to "therapeutic stubbornness."
They believe that the MR would do better to put its energy into finding common ground. "We call on MR to abandon the counterproductive attitude of blackmail and publicity stunts it has been adopting for months and to finally break away from N-VA."
However, Leisterh said the parties have only been talking about potential coalitions, and not the substance of an agreement, for a year now. "Solutions exist, and we will discuss them during the technical plenary meeting, which may make it possible to remove certain obstacles," he said.
He added that he is a candidate "more than ever" for the position of Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region. "I have given my all for Brussels in recent years, and I am not going to stop now."
