 | This article needs to be updated.(June 2024) |
Following the 2024 Belgian federal and regional elections, Government formation talks began on 10 June. Incumbent Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has announced his resignation [1] and his party's leader Tom Ongena has declared that Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats would not be a part of the next federal government.
| Government | Outgoing coalition | Next coalition | Sworn in (days after election) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Federal Government | De Croo | Flemish side CD&V Open Vld Vooruit Groen Francophone side PS MR Ecolo | |||
 | Flemish Government | Jambon | N-VA CD&V Open Vld | Diependaele | N-VA Vooruit CD&V | 30 September 2024 (113 days) |
 | French Community Government | Jeholet | PS Ecolo MR | Degryse | MR LE | 16 July 2024 (37 days) |
| | Walloon Government | Di Rupo III | PS Ecolo MR | Dolimont | MR LE | 15 July 2024 (36 days) |
 | Brussels Government | Vervoort III | Francophone side PS Ecolo DéFI Flemish side Groen Open Vld one.brussels-Vooruit | |||
 | German-speaking Community Govt. | Paasch II | ProDG PFF PS | Paasch III | ProDG CSP PFF | 1 July 2024 (22 days) [2] |
According to political analysts, the most obvious federal coalition would consist of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance, Reformist Movement, and centre-left Vooruit, with the centrist Christian Democratic and Flemish and Les Engagés parties to reach at least 76 seats. Other coalitions are ruled out, following the decision of Open Vld, Groen and the Socialist Party to be part of the opposition. Vlaams Belang is not expected to be part of the government at any level, due to the cordon sanitaire. [3] [4]
On 12 June, after consulting with party presidents, King Philippe named N-VA leader Bart De Wever as informateur. [5] He had to submit a report by 19 June. After said report was submitted, his mission as informateur was extended by another week until 26 June. [6]
On 15 June, Melissa Depraetere, [7] leader of Vooruit, declared that she didn't wish Georges-Louis Bouchez, leader of MR, to be in the future government, citing his "disloyal" attitude towards the De Croo Government and his lack of proficiency in Dutch as factors that would harm a future coalition. She also declared that she desired to push a social design onto a future coalition that she notes is emerging to be on the right, which, in her eyes, will make negotiation very difficult. [8]
On 21 June, Bart De Wever announced that he sees the only logical government formation to be the so-called "Arizona coalition (nl)" (N-VA - MR - LE - Vooruit - CD&V), which combines the respective parties negotiating in Flanders and Wallonia for the respective regional governments. The name derives from the colors of the respective parties all appearing on the flag of that US state. According to De Wever, any other attempt at government formation would lead to a period of endless negotiations. He specifies that the Arizona formation would allow for relative coherence on a socio-economic level, but that it would make any prospect of institutional reform more difficult to negotiate. [9]
On 26 June, De Wever submitted his second report to the King as informateur, subsequently he was relieved of informateur duties and was appointed as preformateur. [10] The choice to appoint a preformateur was analysed by political commentators as confirmation of an incoming Arizona coalition government, but simultaneously an admission that the differences between the parties needed to form government are still too vast for quick and easy negotiations and that a government is not imminent. [11]
On 10 July, the king officially appointed De Wever as formateur, giving him the ability to start formal talks to assemble a government, and likely becoming prime minister of the resulting government. The government was expected to consist of the Arizona coalition, including the N-VA, CD&V, and Vooruit on the Flemish side, and MR and Les Engagés on the Francophone side. [12] His assignment was extended on 24 July and 19 August. [13]
On 22 August, De Wever returned his assignment to the king, having failed to produce a deal agreed by all parties. [14] The next day, the king would assign Les Engagés leader Maxime Prévot as the mediator in the second round of negotiations. [15]
On 1 September, King Philippe again appointed Bart De Wever as the mediator in the coalition negotiations. [16]
On 5 September, De Wever summoned the five Arizona parties for the first time to make working agreements on the further course of the negotiations. It was agreed that the five Arizona parties would not vote on bills that had a budgetary impact after the start of the parliamentary year. It was also decided that the thematic working groups on the various policy themes launched earlier would resume their work from Monday 9 September. The central negotiators met weekly from Friday 13 September to review the progress in the working groups.
On 23 September, De Wever’s assignment as formateur was extended until 17 October. [17] After the local elections on Sunday 13 October, in which the five Arizona parties emerged stronger, the formateur invited the federal chief negotiators on 16 October to determine the working method and agenda for the negotiations on the major sticking points that still needed to be addressed, in particular the substantial savings of 28 billion euros and the socio-economic reforms that had previously failed to negotiate. [18] It was decided that the sherpas, the technical advisors, of the parties would formulate comments on a new socio-economic supernote that the formateur delivered to the five parties on 8 October. [19] A day later, De Wever's assignment as formateur was extended again by the king, this time until Monday 4 November, with the message to conclude the negotiations within a reasonable period of time.
During a new joint meeting of the central negotiators on Thursday 24 October, it was agreed that De Wever would draw up a new supernote, after the various parties had requested a considerable number of adjustments. The intention was that the negotiators would further deal with the remaining sticking points of the other policy themes during the autumn break the following week, but Vooruit announced in a statement later that day that it wanted to wait until the formateur had presented his new supernote with accompanying budgetary tables. According to the party, there was little point in concluding partial agreements on the other themes without a budgetary framework. [20] The other parties regretted Vooruit's move and called for negotiations to be resumed as soon as possible. On Tuesday 29 October, Bart De Wever presented his revised supernote to the party chairmen of Vooruit, MR, CD&V and Les Engagés separately, after which the technicians of the parties considered the note a day later. On 31 October, a joint meeting of the negotiators of the five parties followed to discuss the note. However, no progress was made again: four of the five parties were prepared to continue negotiations on the basis of this note, but Vooruit still found it too unbalanced, particularly with regard to tackling the budget. [21]
In an attempt to straighten things out, De Wever held bilateral consultations with the chairmen of the Arizona parties on Sunday 3 November. The next morning, a joint meeting with the five chairmen followed, before the formateur had to go to the King to report on his assignment. However, this was not enough to break the impasse, after which De Wever offered his resignation as formateur at the Palace. King Philippe, however, kept the resignation under consideration and gave De Wever until 12 November to hold further consultations with the Arizona parties, so that the parties could come closer together again to resume government negotiations. [22]
Sorted descending by number of total seats:
| Coalition | Coalition parties | Total number of seats | Flemish seats | Francophone seats | Pitfalls | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flemish | Francophone | |||||
| Vivaldi incl. LE | Vooruit + CD&V + Open Vld + Groen | MR + PS + LE + Ecolo | 90 / 150 | 37 / 89 | 53 / 61 | Extension of the outgoing coalition strengthened by LE. Broad coalition which is a minority on Flemish side. Open Vld and PS both decided to remain in opposition. PS needed for majority. |
| Arizona excl. PS & Open Vld | N-VA + Vooruit + CD&V | MR + LE | 82 / 150 | 48 / 89 | 34 / 61 | Vast political differences in opinion between largest (N-VA) and second largest (Vooruit) Flemish parties. Vooruit president Melissa Depraetere has stated that her party may refuse to be part of a government including MR president George-Louis Bouchez, citing issues with his "disloyalty" to the incumbent Vivaldi government. |
Other coalitions are also mathematically possible, but in practice unlikely. For instance: both the PS and Open Vld had announced in the beginning of the formation that they preferred to remain in the opposition, while extremist parties on both sides (left: Workers' Party of Belgium, right: Vlaams Belang) are unlikely to be part of the government due to vetoes by other parties.
The 2024 regional election saw the decline of Open Vld, Groen, CD&V, and N-VA, with an increase of votes for Vooruit, PVDA and VB. The incumbent government lost its majority, with only 56 out of 124 seats. Alongside the decisions of Open Vld and Groen to remain in opposition, [23] [24] this means the only possible majority government formation without breaking the cordon sanitaire with VB is a tripartite coalition featuring N-VA, Vooruit, and CD&V, which would have a majority at 65 out of 124 seats. [25]
On 14 June, following talks with Sammy Mahdi of CD&V and Melissa Depraetere of Vooruit, Bart De Wever announced that he would draft a preliminary memorandum before negotiations began between the three parties. [26]
On 19 June, Matthias Diependaele of N-VA was called upon to form government on the regional level, with Vooruit and CD&V announcing they are ready to begin negotiations. [27] He will be assisted in the formation proceedings by Zuhal Demir, Ben Weyts, and Annick De Ridder. Several months later, on 28 September 2024, the three parties announced to have come to an agreement to form a new Flemish Government: the Diependaele Government. [28]
The regional election saw a victory for the right-leaning bloc of MR and Les Engagés, to the detriment of the PS, Ecolo, and PTB. While the incumbent government's so-called "rainbow coalition" is still mathematically possible, with its majority being held at 50 out of 75 seats, it has been deemed impossible due to PS's decision to remain in opposition. [29] On 11 June, two days after the election, Maxime Prévot and Georges-Louis Bouchez announced their intent to launch negotiations to form a two-party majority government of MR and LE, with 43 out of 75 seats. [30]
On 18 June, consultations began with different organisations, beginning with employers' organisations including VOKA, representing Flemish employers, followed by talks with the unions. [31]
On 11 July, MR and LE announced that they had agreed to form a new government and presented the outlines of this new agreement, which involved lowering taxes, removing the budget deficit by 2034, reducing the number of ministers and eventually dissolving the provinces, tackling unemployment, creating more places in child care and prohibiting smart phones in schools for children up to 12 years old. The names of the ministers were not yet decided and will follow in the coming days. [32]
On the Francophone side, the election saw the rise of MR, PTB, and (more modestly) of LE (formerly CdH). Ecolo and Défi lost about half their seats while PS managed to hold on despite a slight decline.
On the Dutch-speaking side, N-VA, Open Vld, and Vooruit each lost a seat while Groen remained stable and VB gained one. The real upheaval was on the side of Team Fouad Ahidar, a new party launched by Fouad Ahidar, a former Brussels MP for Vooruit, which has been characterised by the importance it gives to the "defence of the Muslim community" and religious values. [33] The party obtained 3 seats and became the second-largest Dutch-speaking political party in Brussels.
The incumbent government is not renewable, having lost its overall majority at only 37 out of 89 seats, as well as both of its language-specific majorities, with only 29 out of the 72 Francophone seats (compared to its previous 42) and only 8 out of 17 Dutch-speaking seats (compared to its previous 11). Open Vld and Ecolo have also announced their intentions to remain in opposition. [34] [35] Although Paul Magnette, federal leader of PS, announced his intentions for the party to stay in opposition at all levels, Ahmed Laaouej, head of the party list at the regional level, declared that the regional branch of the party is ready to be part of a regional majority government. [36] On 11 June, MR and LE declared that they were joining forces to carry out negotiations in Brussels. [37]
The establishment of a government poses several issues. Firstly, with MR and Groen are essential to their respective linguistic colleges, however, MR's desire to get rid of the "Good Move" plan put in place by Groen in the previous government arouses tensions between Georges-Louis Bouchez and Elke Van den Brandt, even before the start of negotiations. [38] Therefore, Team Fouad Ahidar proves to be necessary to form a three-way Dutch-speaking majority coalition (in the case of a fourth party joining the coalition, one would have to decline a ministerial post), however, Ahidar's political line is controversial, with Guy Vanhengel of Open Vld accusing the party of being "focused on sharia". [39]
The election saw a great victory for the Christian-democratic and liberal ProDG which gained 2 seats, and a gain of a single seat was also seen by the liberal Vivant. All other political parties saw a loss of a single seat except for the conservative-liberal Perspectives. Freedom. Progress. (PFF), which remained stable at 3 seats. The incumbent government was potentially renewable, as it retained its majority with 14 out of 25 seats. However, on 13 June, just 4 days after the election, it was announced that ProDG, the Christian Social Party (CSP) and PFF had finalised a coalition agreement and that Oliver Paasch would be Minister-President of the German-speaking Community for a third consecutive term, with a majority of 16 out of the 25 seats in the Parliament. This is a historic change in government, putting the Socialist Party (SP) into opposition for the first time since 1990, with the Christian democrats returning to government for the first time in 25 years. [40]
Groen, founded as Agalev, is a green Flemish political party in Belgium. The main pillars of the party are social justice, human rights, and ecologism. Its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo; the two parties maintain close relations with each other.
The Federal Government of Belgium exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretary of state drawn from the political parties which form the governing coalition. The federal government is led by the prime minister of Belgium, and ministers lead ministries of the government. Ministers together form the Council of Ministers, which is the supreme executive organ of the government.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate.
The 2007–2008 Belgian government formation followed the general election of 10 June 2007, and comprised a period of negotiation in which the Flemish parties Flemish Liberal Democratic, Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), and the French-speaking parties Reformist Movement (MR), Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF) and Humanist Democratic Centre (CdH) negotiated to form a government coalition. The negotiations were characterized by the disagreement between the Dutch- and French-speaking parties about the need for and nature of a constitutional reform. According to some, this political conflict could have led to a partition of Belgium.
Bart Albert Liliane De Wever is a Belgian politician. Since 2004, De Wever has been the leader of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a political party advocating for the transformation of Belgium into a confederal state. He is also a member of the Chamber of Representatives. De Wever presided over his party's victory in the 2010 federal elections when N-VA became the largest party in both Flanders and in Belgium as a whole. He accomplished this again in the subsequent 3 elections, eventually being tasked with forming a new government by King Philippe following the 2024 elections.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 13 June 2010, during the midst of the 2007-11 Belgian political crisis. After the fall of the previous Leterme II Government over the withdrawal of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats from the government the King dissolved the legislature and called new elections. The New Flemish Alliance, led by Bart De Wever, emerged as the plurality party with 27 seats, just one more than the francophone Socialist Party, led by Elio Di Rupo, which was the largest party in the Wallonia region and Brussels. It took a world record 541 days until a government was formed, resulting in a government led by Di Rupo.
Following the Belgian general election held on 13 June 2010, a process of cabinet formation started in Belgium. The election produced a very fragmented political landscape, with 11 parties elected to the Chamber of Representatives, none of which won more than 20% of the seats. The Flemish-Nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the largest party in Flanders and the country as a whole, controlled 27 of 150 seats in the lower chamber. The Francophone Socialist Party (PS), the largest in Wallonia, controlled 26 seats. Cabinet negotiations continued for a long time. On 1 June 2011, Belgium matched the record for time taken to form a new democratic government after an election, at 353 days, held until then by Cambodia in 2003–2004. On 11 October 2011, the final agreement for institutional reform was presented to the media. A government coalition was named on 5 December 2011 and sworn in after a total of 541 days of negotiations and formation on 6 December 2011, and 589 days without an elected government with Elio Di Rupo named Prime Minister of the Di Rupo I Government.
The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2012 took place on 14 October. As with the previous 2006 elections, these are no longer organised by the Belgian federal state but instead by the respective regions:
The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats (sp.a/PS), Christian democrats (CD&V/cdH) and liberals, respectively of the Dutch and French language groups. The government notably excluded the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the Flemish nationalist party which achieved a plurality and became the largest party. Its absence, together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties, caused the government coalition to lack a majority in the Dutch language group. It was the first time that the Belgian prime minister had been openly gay, as Di Rupo became the world's first male openly gay head of government. Elio Di Rupo also became the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the first prime minister from Wallonia since 1974 and first socialist prime minister since 1974.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no longer directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippe's reign.
Following the simultaneous federal elections and regional elections of 25 May 2014, negotiations started to form a new Federal Government as well as new regional governments: a Flemish, Walloon, French Community and Brussels Government. A Government of the German-speaking Community was formed only a few days after the elections.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 26 May 2019, alongside the country's European and regional elections. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from eleven multi-member constituencies.
The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2018 took place on Sunday 14 October 2018. They are organised by the respective regions:
In the run up to the 2024 Belgian federal election, various organisations carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in Belgium. The results of nationwide polls are usually numerically split into the three Belgian regions: Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia. Federal seat projections for the Chamber of Representatives are presented together under these regional polls. The federal election was part of a group of elections which also include the regional elections and the European elections held on the same day. Some polls might be undefined voting intentions without differentiating between the elections.
In Belgium, the government formation of 2019–2020 started one day after the federal elections, regional elections and European elections which were all held simultaneously on 26 May 2019. These formations were only the second under King Philippe.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 9 June 2024. The Chamber of Representatives received 150 members with five-year terms. European and regional elections took place on the same day.
The 2024 Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections took place on Sunday 13 October 2024, four months after the simultaneous European, federal and regional elections.
Fouad Ahidar is a Belgian politician who currently serves as the leader of Team Fouad Ahidar, political party in Belgium. He is currently a member of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region.
|  | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
