Belgische coalitiebesprekingen slepen zich voort (en)
Belgian politicians are still struggling to form a government after 40 days of negotiations with seven different political parties following elections on 13 June.
"For 40 days, I've tried to reconcile the irreconcilable," said French-speaking Socialist party head Elio Di Rupo on Wednesday (18 August). Due to become Belgium's first native French-speaking prime minister since 1974 and the EU i's only openly gay leader, Mr Di Rupo added that it was the "the most difficult situation in Belgian history."
Talks are due to resume on Saturday (21 August) after the King, speaking of the "important progress" that has been made so far, urged the parties to keep negotiating and has been personally meeting with the leaders of the various parties.
French-speaking parties have offered to transfer €15.8 billion of federal spending, representing 49 percent of the funds collected by the federal government, to the regions.
But Flemish parties, who are keen to see more powers devolved to the regions, are pushing for more conditions to be included such as a reward and punishment system for entities depending on whether they manage to achieve certain pre-defined objectives.
French-speaking parties, for their part, are demanding that the state reform, which would be the sixth in the country's history, does not touch the subsidies that flow into their poorer region from richer Flanders and that no part of the population is left less well off by the reforms.
Belgium is divided into French-speaking, subsidy-dependent Wallonia in the south and richer Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north.
The language divide is compounded by the fact that there are no national parties, meaning the regional parties campaign and make promises on local issues making it harder to find a compromise when it comes to forming a coalition government.
The previous government collapsed in April following deep rifts over how to handle an electoral district surrounding Brussels. The June elections handed a big victory to Bart de Wever, head of the devolution-minded N-VA in Flanders.
Both sides agreed that a deal was needed on state reform in order to form a new coalition government. To date, they have not yet even properly touched on the electoral district issue that caused the fall in the first place.
The complexities of the arguments and the exact state of play remain something of a mystery to many ordinary Belgians too.
The daily newspaper La Libre Belgique on Friday published an enlightening 10 point Q&A to help those returning from holidays or who have simply lost the thread.
Concluding, it says there is "not really" a Plan B should Mr Di Rupo and Mr de Wever, fail to find an agreement, noting that even if others are chosen to head negotiations "the same Francophones and the same Flemings will still be around the table, each with the same demands and the same taboos. So, Elio Di Rupo and Bart De Wever are condemned to agree."
Dipping briefly into an 'if everything fails scenario' the paper notes that "we may be forced to negotiate a totally different Belgium. But hey don't panic, we're not at that point. Let's stay optimistic."
Meanwhile, Belgium, which has the EU presidency until the end of the year, will continue to run things via its caretaker government.
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