Belgian elections 25th May, 2014

[Diouf]

How's the government formation coming along. The current government has a renewed majority, has it not? So I'm guessing the likliest result is that they will continue?

Nope, it looks like it will be a so-called Swedish Coalition with N-VA + CD&V + Open Vld + MR with Kris Peeters from CD&V as PM. The outcome is quite closely intertwined with the government formation in Vlaanderen where N-VA + CD&V + Open Vld will form the new government with Geert Bourgeois from N-VA as Minister-President.

Both the social democrat parties lost votes at the election, so they might not be completely dissatisfied with relinquishing some of the responsibility. Furthermore, MR demanded joining the Wallonie government if they were to continue in federal government with the two other Wallonian parties PS and cdH. PS rejected this and the new Wallonie, and Communauté Française government is therefore only made up of PS and cdH with Paul Magnette and Rudy Demotte from PS as Minister-Presidents.
cdH refused to participate in the centre-right government, probably mainly due to the presence of the Flemish nationalists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Belgian_government_formation

[Diouf]

It still seems very likely that Belgium will get a so-called Swedish Coalition as mentioned above. However, it seems like Kris Peeters (CD&V) is no longer the expected PM as the four parties negotiating the new coalition decided to appoint MEP Marianne Thyssen (CD&V) as Belgium's new EU Commissioner. Therefore CD&V will not get the PM post, which will then go to one of the two liberal parties. A MR PM could perhaps slightly soothe some in Wallonie where there have been some protests that the new government does not have a majority in the French-speaking areas. Plus the fact that the new EU Commissioner is Flemish. However, perhaps the N-VA will protest that or demand bigger concessions.

Belgian papers like De Tijd report that CD&V decided to take the slighly lesser post of EU Commissioner instead of PM in an attempt to trade its way to more policy concessions, especially a more leftwing economic policy. One of the things they would like the new government programme to include is a so-called meerwaardebelasting (a kind of capital gains tax)

http://m.tijd.be/9541128.art[Paywall. In Flemish about the supposed CD&V trade of the PM post]

http://trends.knack.be/economie/beleid/meerwaardebelasting-belgische-vermogenstaksen-al-stuk-hoger-dan-eu-gemiddelde/article-opinion-274893.html [in Flemish about the CD&V's wish for a meerwaardebelasting, and how the current tax situation in Belgium is compared with its neighbours]

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Politics/140904_Thyssen [English profile of the new EU Commissioner]

[Diouf]

Belgium could get its first female PM

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News/140905_belgium-government-prime-minister

[Diouf]

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With regards to who should be the PM

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http://blogs.wsj.com/brussels/2014/09/16/belgium-government-talks-on-home-straight/

[Diouf]

The government negotiations have finished. Charles Michel of the liberal Mouvement Réformateur will be the next PM. He will be the first French-speaking liberal to be PM since Paul-Emile Janson in 1937

One part of the government programme is a pension reform: http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Politics/141007_Negotiations_pensions


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