The Francophone liberal party, MR, will be meeting with all "democratic" parties that are willing to start talks on the party's proposal for a Brussels policy statement on Friday from 15:00, announced Brussels leader David Leisterh.
At the end of May, MR presented an 80-page policy statement to "save Brussels" and sent it to all parties, except radical left PTB-PVDA, Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang and controversial regionalist newcomer Team Fouad Ahidar.
"We want to bring together all the parties that have responded to our document to propose a working method for the memorandum," Leisterh said. The delegations concerned are requested to confirm their attendance and to limit their representation to one person per party.
While MR had also sent the document to the Francophone socialist PS, the latter did not respond and is therefore not invited to the talks. That leaves MR (which won 20 seats in the elections) with centrist Les Engagés (8 seats), greens Ecolo (7) and regionalists DéFI (6) for the meeting.
Delays and blackmail
The Brussels Parliament is made up of 89 seats – 17 on the Dutch-speaking, and 72 on the French-speaking side. This means that, without PS or PTB-PVDA, a majority (of at least 37 seats) on the French-speaking side can only be formed if all four parties agree to form a coalition.
Together, the four parties have 41 seats – but if just one of them refuses to join the coalition, forming a majority coalition is not possible.
However, it is looking "very unlikely" that Friday's meeting will "lead to anything," as both Ecolo and DéFI were very reluctant to join, political scientist Dave Sinardet (VUB) told The Brussels Times.
"MR is well aware of the fact that they do not have enough support for this text," he said. "This is all political strategy and posturing. MR is just using this meeting so they can say 'look, we are doing our best, it's the others who are being difficult.' But they know full well that this will not lead anywhere."
DéFI leader Sophie Rohonyi, Sunday 06 October 2024. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
Indeed, DéFI party leader Sophie Rohonyi and outgoing Brussels Minister Bernard Clerfayt called on MR to "stop the blackmail" and to distance itself from the Flemish nationalist N-VA party. DéFI will not take a seat at the negotiating table unless there is a majority on the French-speaking side, they stressed.
Ecolo also announced that it would not accept MR's offer to start negotiations. Ecolo will not participate in negotiations on a government with a Francophone minority that would force the party to enter into discussions with the N-VA. This is a "delaying tactic" that MR has been using for months, said leader of Ecolo's Brussels branch Kalvin Soiresse.
The S&P credit rating agency came to Brussels in May to gather information ahead of a new credit rating for the Capital Region on 13 June. While the region's rating is expected to drop, the fear is that the current lack of government might result in a downgrade that is bigger than foreseen.
