Leaders of the liberal party Mouvement Réformateur (MR) on Monday called for a serious approach to efforts to form a majority government in Wallonia.
Since the withdrawal of the Centre Démocrate Humaniste (cdH), the prospect of a new ‘Olivier’ coalition, linking the Socialists, Ecolo and cdH, has faded, while discussions between the Parti Socialiste (PS) and the Belgian labour party, PTB, have run aground.
The only hope the PS and Ecolo have of obtaining a majority in parliament is to team up with the MR. In that case, the Greens would no longer be arithmetically necessary, a prospect welcomed by neither the PS nor Ecolo. The co-president of the Greens, Jean-Marc Nollet, thus proposed on Monday the establishment of a “Coquelicot” minority government comprising socialists, ecologists and civil-society personalities.
Nollet feels it is possible to obtain support outside the cdH, given recent statements by the president of the centrists, Maxime Prévot, and Education Minister Marie-Martine Schyns.
The liberals, for their part, insist on the need to have a majority in Parliament to be able to govern effectively.
“Wallonia needs a serious, ambitious project based on a majority in Parliament,” outgoing Foreign Minister Valérie de Bue argued.
“Seriousness, sense of responsibility and ambition are what Wallonia needs to envisage a future for our young people; not going off on an adventure,” said outgoing Economy Minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet.
The Brussels Times
