A way out of the political impasse blocking a Brussels Government formation may be taking shape. The final round of "last-chance" discussions has been held, which may have paved the way for a solution to a months-long problem.
David Leisterh (MR), the Brussels government formator, held his final round of "last-chance" talks on Wednesday morning. He met PS leader Ahmed Laaouej and Vooruit's Ans Persoons. After the nearly hour-long meeting, in which Laaouej reiterated his party's priorities to Leisterh, he expressed optimism about the resumption of negotiations.
"Recent statements by [Flemish Christian Democrats] CD&V have paved the way for a solution that could gain majority support in Parliament," he said.
Situation at a standstill
For the past eight months, Brussels political parties have been at a standstill. The French-speaking socialists PS left the negotiating table after it was announced the Dutch-speaking majority would include the Flemish right-wing nationalists N-VA. Since then, the situation has been gridlocked.
PS reportedly wanted to swap N-VA for CD&V, which the three parties involved in talks (Groen, Open VLD and Vooruit) were long looking to as a fourth partner before including N-VA. Rumour has it CD&V's Benjamin Dalle declined because he wanted a ministerial position. There are only three ministerial positions for the Dutch-speaking parties. As CD&V is the smallest party in the majority, it would miss out.
On Tuesday, however, Dalle said he was willing to work towards a breakthrough and did not rule out joining the Brussels Government without N-VA, La Libre reported. Laaouej said he was open to creating a post of fourth Secretary of State in the government for the party, providing it was budget neutral. A two-thirds majority would have to be obtained in the Brussels Parliament.
It also remains to be seen whether Open VLD and the party's Frédéric De Gucht will agree to "unstick" themselves from the N-VA. De Gucht had previously said there is no scenario in which Open VLD would be prepared to swap N-VA for another party, and doubled down on this on Tuesday.
