The leader of Belgium's New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party said today he will start writing a proposal aimed at ending the dispute between Dutch- and French-speaking parties that has led to a political stalemate four months after national elections.
Bart De Wever, charged by King Albert II with a clarification mission, will hand over the proposal to the leaders of the seven parties involved in the government talks on October 17th and expects an answer by noon on October 18th, according to an e-mailed statement.
The monarch asked Mr De Wever to explore potential coalitions after his N-VA took the spoils in the Flanders region, the Dutch-speaking northern part of the linguistically divided country.
As he does not want to compromise his campaign to deliver greater devolved powers to Flanders, Mr De Wever had signalled last month he would not seek to become prime minister. The job may go to Socialist leader Elio Di Rupo, whose party beat the dominant Liberals in the southern French-speaking part of Belgium.
The talks process is a slow one, notwithstanding pressure to reduce the country’s large national debt and the fact its newly installed six-month rotating presidency of the EU is being managed by a caretaker administration.
The negotiations are complicated by several factors, not least the strength of Mr De Wever’s mandate. He says he doesn’t want to divide Belgium in two immediately, but nationalism is anathema to many French-speakers.
His advance is seen as a wake-up call by some in Wallonia. The thinking is resistance to federal reforms would only hasten the country’s disintegration.