Flemish Minister-President Matthias Diependaele (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) has announced a meeting of the Flemish government's core cabinet for Friday at 7:30 p.m.
This was confirmed on Tuesday evening to Belga News Agency by the Office of the Minister-President.
Coalition partners Christen Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) and Vooruit have been pressing for the Government of Flanders to urgently revisit its stance on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to introduce stricter measures against Israel. Until now, no meeting had been planned, but the government has now decided to schedule one.
Last week, following a session of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Flemish Parliament, CD&V and Vooruit pushed for a stronger position from the government towards Israel. They also called for an expedited government meeting to address the situation.
The Diependaele government was initially set to reconvene only on Friday, 5 September. However, an additional parliamentary committee session on Israel and Gaza is already scheduled for Tuesday, 2 September. CD&V and Vooruit are urging the government to present a tougher policy stance during that session.
On Monday, the two parties submitted a resolution outlining several proposed measures, doing so without the backing of the N-VA. This bold move was widely interpreted as an attempt to pressure the N-VA into action.
In response, Minister-President Diependaele has now called a meeting of his government’s core leadership to address the issue. The meeting will take place on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, the federal government's core cabinet is set to discuss the matter as early as Wednesday.
