Talks end without a breakthrough

The federal government of Prime Minister Bart De Wever met on Tuesday evening, 20 October, and the prime minister hoped for a breakthrough on the budget that did not come. The restricted committee, known as the kern, started at 19:00 to examine a new budget note he had tabled that Tuesday morning. It finished at 00:30 on Wednesday, 21 October, with the leaders agreeing that work had not advanced far enough to discuss the latest budget proposal in depth. De Wever then had to settle for bilateral consultations with the deputy prime ministers. A new kern is scheduled for Wednesday evening.

Coalition divided over taxes

Vice-Prime Minister David Clarinval of the MR said the positions remained very far apart, a view shared by other coalition parties. He argued that the budget table still contains too many anticompetitive taxes and that their volume must fall.

“Efforts must still be made, because we consider that there are still far too many anticompetitive taxes in the table. The volume must decrease.”

Les Engagés said at the entrance to Tuesday evening's kern that progress had been made but the note was not yet satisfactory. A source said the note also caused problems for the centrists and Vooruit. The latest note updated the budget table after Sunday's kern. The MR had been the critical voice in the preceding weeks, before the centre-left wing of the Arizona coalition became very critical of the previous note.

Ten billion euros and the threat of twelfths

The ambition remains to find ten billion euros by 2029. On Wednesday morning, speaking in a Chamber committee, De Wever did not go into the content of the talks but again painted a bleak picture of the financial pressure on the country. He again blamed his predecessors for the situation Belgium is in and warned of what he called a 'wall of darkness'.

“We are in stoppage time, and I can only hope that the majority parties can overcome their differences and conclude an agreement.”

If the government fails to agree, it risks starting next year under the provisional twelfths regime, a prospect De Wever has clearly ruled out. In that case he would propose a 'schuldenrem', a debt brake that would freeze the indexation of pensions, civil servants' pay, allowances, state operating budgets and tax scales. At the exit of the meeting, De Wever called a deal by Thursday morning, 22 October, 'the goal', before softening that somewhat: 'in any case, that would be good'.

Opposition and coalition criticism

Paul Magnette (PS) criticised De Wever's approach as 'always the same speech', arguing that it blames others. The left, including the PS, PTB and Ecolo, urged the government to find the money among the wealthiest, pointing to large fortunes, management companies and oil companies that record windfall profits. Raoul Hedebouw (PTB) opposed possible plans to freeze the holiday bonus of retirees, calling that 'simply too easy, and so antisocial'.

François De Smet (DéFI), the only DéFI member of the federal parliament, put the blame on the government itself.

“This government has only itself to blame, because it is faced with its original flaw.”

He said the talks repeat those of a year ago, and that the ten billion euros was already missing when the government was formed in February 2025, while about eight billion euros of expected feedback effects were never justified or quantified. He also said the MR of Mr Bouchez constantly picks fights, even with its own partners, and that the tension must end either with a much stronger coalition or, at worst, a government crisis.