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Belgium has succeeded after nearly eight months of talks in the formation of a ruling coalition, to be first led by a right -wing, nationalist party as political forces against establishment increase their power in Europe.
Bart de Wver, a founding member of the N-VA Party, will be prime minister. The n-va has protected for greater independence for Flanders, half of the Dutch verb of Belgium and pushed it and Wallonia, the French speaking part, exist as confederation states.
After De Wever met with King Philippe late on Friday, the palace announced that a government agreement had been reached.
Maxime Prévot, leader of Les Engagés, one of the coalition partners, said: “Here we are! Belgium finally has a bold and responsible government agreement that thinks of future generations.”
De Wver initially reacted to X, citing Julius Caesar for the Rubicon passage: Dies is thrown! (dies is thrown).
The Flemish nationalist will be the first N-VA politician to become prime minister after leading the party since 2004. He has been Antwerp, the country’s second largest city since 2013.
As mayor, he has defended strong measures to hit cocaine smuggling at the Antwerp port, including calling to the army.
He recently wrote SmartA book in which he blames “a good part of the intellectual elite” for pushing people to the most far -right groups.
De Wver joins the ranks of other right-wing EU leaders, strengthening the voice of the European Party of Conservatives and Reformists around the EU Council table, which also includes leaders such as Italy’s Giorgio Meloni.
If he swears by Monday, one of the first De Wever appointments may be participating in the attraction of an EU leader focused on European defense.
The new coalition, known as Arizona because the colors of the parties coincide with those of the US state flag, will also include Flemish Christian Democrats (CD & V) and left -wing Vooruit, and on the Francophone side, Réformateur Mouvement Liberal ( Mr) and centrists Les Engagés.
The NV holds 24 of the 82 countries held by the coalition parties in the national parliament.
Belgium has a history of long government formation, in part because of its regional division, which means parties with different linguistic and political inclinations must negotiate to form a common federal government.
In 2011, the country broke the record for the longest time of every democracy spent without a government in peaceful times – 541 days, with an agreement reached after nearly 500 days of talks.
Arizona’s talks almost failed in the last minute, with talks running over time and late on Friday night.
In last June elections, N-VA won most of the votes by about 16 percent, followed by Vlaams Belang (VB), a right-wing party that protects for the full disconnection of Flanders, which has been avoided In the coalition he talks.
Talks between the five coalition parties were complicated by ideological differences in policy areas, including fiscal reform and budget. De Wver had called for radical tax cuts and fiscal reform, which was difficult to swallow for the left party of Vooru.
