The leader of the Francophone liberal MR party, who became Brussels formator, Georges-Louis Bouchez, has been given until early next week by Les Engagés, Groen, Vooruit and Open VLD to assemble a majority on both the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking sides.
He announced the decision on Thursday evening following a meeting with the five parties involved in forming a new Brussels government.
Bouchez had also invited the Francophone socialist PS to Thursday's talks, but the party refused to attend. They demanded an apology from Open VLD leader Frédéric De Gucht, who said on the television programme Terzake on Tuesday that the PS was "addicted to spending money."
"We are giving ourselves a few days to secure both a Dutch-speaking majority – which so far has not been represented at the table – and a French-speaking one, meaning bringing the PS back into the talks," Bouchez said after the meeting.
"The aim is to enter a conclave on the basis of the budget tables that were due to be presented today. But we devoted this meeting to resolving these issues first," he added.
'Enormous challenge'
According to Bouchez, the other negotiators have tasked him with this mission, with the objective of achieving a breakthrough by the start of next week.
For months, the search for a Dutch-speaking majority has been so sensitive that recent negotiations – driven largely by the need to reach a budget agreement to steer Brussels out of financial difficulty – have taken place only with three parties: Groen, Vooruit and Open VLD. Together, they fall one seat short of such a majority.
For several months, Open VLD insisted that the Flemish nationalist N-VA had to be part of any Dutch-speaking majority. Since late summer 2024, however, PS has made clear that it will not take part in any negotiations that include N-VA – making its exclusion a precondition for joining talks with MR and Les Engagés on the French-speaking side.
"We lacked a Dutch-speaking majority already, and now PS has walked away as well," Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) commented after the meeting. "The formator has asked for a few days to find a majority on both sides, and we have agreed. But it will be an enormous challenge."
