At 11:30 on Monday, Groen, N-VA, Open VLD and Vooruit are set to meet at Groen Minister Elke Van den Brandt’s office for preliminary discussions.
On Sunday, the MR announced that negotiations for a Brussels majority would resume on Monday following an agreement. While the exact time for this meeting is not yet decided, it is expected to happen in the afternoon.
For weeks, the MR and PS engaged in discreet talks to end the political deadlock that persisted more than a year after the elections. The situation appeared completely stalled when attempts by the two largest parties in the Brussels Parliament yielded no results. On 11 July, MR Chairman Georges-Louis Bouchez declared a breakthrough.
That breakthrough materialised on Sunday evening when the MR announced that MR, PS, Les Engagés, Groen, Open VLD, and Vooruit would restart negotiations on Monday. This resolution came about because the MR agreed to cede a state secretariat entitlement to someone without a party card, but supported by N-VA. Thus, while Bart De Wever’s N-VA is not part of the Brussels government, as demanded by PS, it remains part of the Brussels majority, fulfilling Open VLD’s condition.
The announcement on Sunday evening elicited cautious responses from both N-VA and parties like Groen and Vooruit. Consequently, the four parties are set to confer before the meeting with all six parties later in the day.
CD&V is not involved in this exercise. Negotiator Benjamin Dalle has not been invited to either the Dutch-speaking parties’ meeting or the six-party meeting. Dalle was unavailable for comment at this time.
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