Belgium risks 'political chaos,' would-be premier warns

Aug 30, 2010, 21:02 GMT

Brussels - The stalemate in Belgium over the formation of a new government risks plunging the country into 'political chaos,' the man in charge of the negotiations warned Monday.

French-speaking Socialist Party (PS) leader Elio Di Rupo spoke after talks broke down on Sunday, as two centre-right parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders said proposals to give more autonomy to their region did not go far enough.

'The political parties who refuse a balanced proposal will lead our country towards adventurism and political chaos. I don't think that is the mandate they received from their voters. I hope reason will prevail,' Di Rupo said.

He issued a direct plea to Flemish nationalists from the N-VA, the largest group to emerge from the June 13 elections, whose leader Bart De Wever has argued for a gradual dissolution of the Belgian state through a creeping transfer of power to its regions.

'Neither N-VA with its 27 seats, nor the PS with 26 seats in the Chamber (of Deputies) can impose its own point of view on the other party,' Di Rupo said.

Flemish hardliners want richer Flanders to retain a bigger share of its wealth and stop subsidising economically-depressed, French-speaking Wallonia, where the PS is the main political force.

N-VA, backed by the more moderate CD&V, blocked a 500-million-euro (635-million-dollar) grant to the bilingual government in Brussels, saying financing rules for regional administrations in Flanders and Wallonia had to be rewritten first.

Di Rupo said the handout to PS-run Brussels was 'indispensable to ensure the sustainability of the region and the welfare of all its inhabitants, be they Dutch- or French-speakers.'

But De Wever held to his gun later on Monday, saying he needed written guarantees on regional financing reform before agreeing to the Brussels aid package.

'If they ask us to show some trust, it is not too much to ask,' he told Flemish broadcaster VRT.

Two other Flemish parties, the Socialist sp.a and the Greens, accepted Di Rupo's compromise proposals, which, in a bid to assuage Flemish demands, would also shift 14 billion euros' worth of state spending from federal to regional government.

The clash takes place against the backdrop of an estimated 25-billion-euro cut over four years needed to restore government finances.

While Belgium's deficit is estimated at a lowish 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), its public debt is projected to rise over the 100-per-cent-of-GDP mark in 2010, urgently bringing home the need for austerity measures.

The political machinations also leave the country presiding over the European Union's rotating presidency with only a caretaker government, chaired by outgoing premier Yves Leterme.

'At stake is the future of all Belgians, the Flemish, the Walloons, people from Brussels and the German-speakers,' Di Rupo added.

Political commentators have long feared that the increased acrimony between Flemish and Walloon politicians could lead to the break-up of the Belgian state, founded in 1830.

On Sunday Di Rupo said rival sides positions' were 'incompatible' and announced he would give up his mediation efforts. But a day later he said he bowed to demands by King Albert II to soldier on 'out of a sense of loyalty to the state.'

Flemish newspaper De Standaard argued that the weekend's events seriously compromised relations between the main political players, dashing initial hopes that arch-rivals Di Rupo and De Wever could strike a business-like partnership.

'We are not yet negotiating the final split-up of the Belgians. Feelings and intentions are not there yet. But on Sunday night we took a further step in that direction,' the paper warned ominously.