Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has said he is "sceptical" about the new Brussels government's promise to restore the Region's finances by 2029, after seven parties reached a long-awaited coalition agreement.
Speaking on Thursday evening from Alden Biesen castle in Limburg, where he was attending an informal European summit, De Wever told reporters waiting outside the castle that his party, N-VA, had not taken part in the negotiations and that he had not yet seen the full text of the agreement.
"From my perspective as Prime Minister, what interests me is the budgetary clean-up of Brussels, which has an enormous deficit. If this new government manages to deal with that, I will be pleased," he said to the reporters. He added, however, that he was "a little sceptical", citing what he described as the "game and cynicism" of the socialist party PS.
According to De Wever, the Socialists had waited two years, allowing the situation to deteriorate "to the point where the others accept their blackmail".
The new coalition brings together the MR, PS and Les Engagés on the French-speaking side, and Groen, Anders, Vooruit and CD&V on the Dutch-speaking side. The agreement was announced by a spokesperson for formateur Georges-Louis Bouchez on Thursday evening.
Bouchez, who chairs the MR, rejected the Prime Minister's doubts. "It is clear that this is a major change for Brussels. The Region was Belgium's worst pupil and, with the agreement we have just finalised, it will become the best pupil in the Belgian school," he told the reporters.
"Yes, I can understand that this causes surprise, but I can tell you this is very serious. As Prime Minister, he should be pleased that the capital of Europe finally has a government," Bouchez added.
He acknowledged that the prolonged political crisis had been damaging. "There is nothing to be proud of in having lived through such a crisis, but we can feel relieved to regain stable governance for the capital Region."
