Talks have repeatedly hit roadblocks over the course of the past eight months.
The regional government is supposed to be composed of a French-speaking majority as well as a majority among Dutch-speaking parties, which are far smaller in Brussels.
The liberal Reformist Party, Socialist Party and centrist Les Engagés quickly cemented a deal on the French-speaking side. But on the Dutch-speaking side, the highly fragmented election result led to months-long negotiations, led by the Greens. The difficult talks were further exacerbated by several parties’ vetoes against a deal with the second-largest Dutch-speaking party, the brand new list of Team Fouad Ahidar.
When Brussels’ Dutch-speaking parties finally cut a deal with the Greens, the socialist Vooruit party, the liberals of Open VLD and the Flemish-nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the French-speaking parties’ majority crumbled. The leader of the French-speaking socialists, Ahmed Laaouej, refuses to govern with the N-VA and has held on to that veto.
That has led to an unexpected political stalemate in Belgium — where everyone had anticipated a deadlock on the national level, but not in Brussels.
“Unexpectedly, all the problems that had been expected in the remainder of the country have been concentrated in Brussels,” said Dave Sinardet, professor of political science at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He pointed to a major gulf between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking election winners.
