Three days of talks at the palace: King Philippe receives the five party leaders and sees De Wever again on Friday
The King did not accept the government's resignation on Monday and has taken matters into his own hands; Les Engagés and CD&V are first in line today.
On Monday King Philippe did not accept the resignation of the De Wever government but kept it under consideration. The meeting with Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) lasted a little over an hour and a half, according to VRT NWS; the prime minister left the palace without speaking to the press, NOS reports. In a statement, the Palace regretted that there is no credible budget. According to Business AM, the King said the country cannot afford a prolonged political deadlock at a time of economic hardship and geopolitical uncertainty, and called on all parties to put the general interest first and be willing to compromise.
The King is leading the talks himself. On Tuesday morning he receives Yvan Verougstraete (Les Engagés) and Sammy Mahdi (CD&V), on Wednesday Conner Rousseau (Vooruit) and Georges-Louis Bouchez (MR), and on Thursday afternoon N-VA leader Valerie Van Peel, according to the schedule published by VRT NWS. A new audience with the prime minister follows on Friday at 10.30 am. According to RTBF, the King wants to gauge whether the five Arizona parties really still want to work together. Ministers will not meet during the consultations, sources told VRT NWS. L'Avenir points out that the prime minister had always ruled out provisional twelfths for the start of 2027.
On Monday evening the tone was cautious. MR leader Bouchez urged calm, called the budget a purely economic problem and announced that he would no longer comment publicly on the crisis, to give the talks with the King room. Deputy Prime Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) said on Terzake that his party is not pushing for elections but wants fair solutions. Van Peel said she was disappointed that some lack courage and warned that without a deal tougher measures will be needed. Deputy Prime Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) noted that the parties are still sticking to their positions.
Political scientist Dave Sinardet (VUB and UCLouvain) sees the King's move as a ritual to buy time and raise the pressure on the parties, he told VRT NWS. His Ghent colleague Nicolas Bouteca points out that party leaders cannot be bypassed in this country; both during the government formation and in last year's budget talks, royal involvement led to a breakthrough. VRT journalist Bart Verhulst heard from several governing parties that a deal could still take weeks, and called the current phase the penultimate stop before the government falls.