Belgium: Bart de Wever starts as head of government in stormy times!

Belgium: Bart de Wever starts as head of government in stormy times!

Belgium has taken a historical step: for the first time, the government is cited by the Flemish National Party N-VA, which is considered to be right-wing and critical of migration. Bart de Wever, the chairman of the N-VA and Mayor of Antwerp for years, will swing the scepter as head of government. This agreement comes after a complicated formation of government, which is often hindered by the tensions between the country of French and Dutch, so reports Radio Euskirchen .

The N-VA has agreed on a coalition with four other parties, including the Liberal Party MR, Christian Democrats from both parts of the country and Flemish Social Democrats. This "Arizona coalition" gets its name from the colors of the flag of the US state of Arizona. The King of Belgium, Philippe, still has to take the agreement formally and swear the new ministers.

urgent reforms in view

With the new government, drastic socio -economic reforms and cuts in the social area are imminent. The coalition aims to reduce the debt burden and the new debt of the country. Experts expect the focus to be on controversial topics such as the reform of taxes, pensions and the labor market. However, these reforms are not without conflicts, since the Flemish socialists of Vooruit and the Francophones Liberals of MR in particular have had disagreements in the past, reports Belgieninfo .

In the coalition negotiations, the first attempts to form an Arizona coalition had already failed. A dispute over a possible profit tax on securities sales had the first attempt. Maxime Prévot from Les Engagés, however, was able to arrange and make the parties an agreement.

political landscape and challenges

The political landscape in Belgium is shaped by the language regions. Bart de Wever, who is considered the decisive figure in this formation phase, plans to focus on less controversial topics such as immigration, energy policy and internal security. The deadline, which was set by the European Commission to discharge the state budget by extensive reforms, could increase the urgency of government formation.