BRUSSELS— Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever is meeting King Philippe on Monday to offer his resignation as his coalition teeters on the brink of collapse over attempts to plug a €10 billion budget gap. In an 11th-hour attempt to reach a deal for next year’s budget, top officials from De Wever’s five-party government gathered over the weekend, but left without an agreement early Monday morning. Tuesday was widely seen as the unofficial deadline to strike a deal, as the budget still has to pass through parliament before the end of the year.
As part of the talks, De Wever wanted to show financial markets that Belgium is on track to meet its European obligations. Belgium had a deficit of 5.2 % of GDP in 2025, which is expected to rise further next year. De Wever had ruled out starting the new year with a temporary budget, which would let the government continue with the same budget as last year’s.
Budget talks have been ongoing for weeks, with tensions emerging mostly between the Flemish socialists of Forward and the Francophone center-right Reformist Movement. The former asked for more contributions from the highest incomes, through taxes, while the latter ruled that out and pushed back against a wider reform of value-added tax. There were still “far too many taxes on the table,” David Clarinval, deputy prime minister for the Reformist Movement, told reporters when talks broke up.
He didn’t rule out discussions resuming today. Last year, Belgium’s budget talks also went into extra time, with De Wever setting a fixed deadline after meeting King Philippe. If Belgium is on track for snap elections, the country could lean toward extreme parties, with both the far-right Vlaams Belang and the far-left Workers Party performing well in the polls.
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