2007–2008 Belgian Government Formation

The 2007–2008 Belgian government formation followed the general election of 10 June 2007, and comprised a period of negotiation in which the Flemish parties Flemish Liberal Democratic (Open VLD), Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), and the French-speaking parties Reformist Movement (MR), Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF) and Humanist Democratic Centre (CdH) negotiated to form a government coalition. The negotiations were characterized by the disagreement between the Dutch- and French-speaking parties about the need for and nature of a constitutional reform. According to some, this political conflict could have led to a partition of Belgium.

On November 6, the formation talks became the longest in Belgian history. When the Parliament confirmed the formation of an interim Government, it had been 196 days since the Belgian people had voted out the previous coalition. It was the second longest formation period in European history, after the Dutch record of 208 days in 1977. Talks were interrupted twice by the resignation of the ''formateur'', which left the political parties waiting for a new appointment by the King. Guy Verhofstadt was appointed as mediator on December 3, with the task not only of looking into the formation of a new government, but also of investigating how the government could handle certain urgent policy matters. Pressed by time, and some say by the King, on 19 December, Verhofstadt concluded a deal on a Government and presented it to Parliament on 21 December; on the same day the Ministers took the oath of office.

On Sunday 23 December, the interim Government officially came into office when it was acknowledged by the lower house of Parliament with 97 votes in favour. The transitional period came to an end on March 20, 2008, when Yves Leterme was sworn in as Prime Minister. The new government seemed short-lived as Leterme offered the King his resignation on 15 July 2008. The King refused.

Conventions

After a federal election, the process of government formation starts. This process is based on constitutional convention rather than written law and generally consists of two stages: information and formation. The King consults the presidents of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate and a number of prominent politicians in order to discuss the election results. Following these meetings, he appoints an ''informateur''.

The ''informateur'' has the task of exploring the various possibilities for a new federal government and for examining which parties can form a majority in the Federal Parliament. He also meets with prominent people in various fields to hear their views on what policies the new federal government should pursue. The ''informateur'' then reports to the King and advises him about the appointment of a ''formateur''. However, the King can also decide to appoint a second ''informateur'' or appoint a royal mediator.

The ''formateur'', who is usually the prospective prime minister is appointed by the King on the basis of the informateur's report. The task of the ''formateur'' is to form a new government coalition and lead the negotiations about the government agreement and the composition of the government. If these negotiations succeed, the ''formateur'' presents a new federal government to the King.

Parties involved in the 2007 government formation

* Armand De Decker ( MR), President of the Senate, was asked by the King to start an inter-community dialogue together with Herman Van Rompuy.
* Bart De Wever, leader of the New Flemish Alliance (Flemish nationalist).
* Yves Leterme, frontman of the CD&V, has been appointed ''formateur'' twice by the King.
* Olivier Maingain, leader of the FDF (Walloon nationalist).
* Joëlle Milquet, leader of the Walloon Christian Democratic party ( CDH). (nicknamed ''Madame Non'' by the Flemish press)
* Didier Reynders, leader of the Walloon Liberal party (MR), has been appointed ''informateur''.
* Bart Somers, leader of the Flemish Liberal party (Open VLD).
* Jo Vandeurzen, leader of the Flemish Christian Democratic party (CD&V).
* Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V), President of the Chamber of Representatives, was appointed ''explorator'' after the first failure of the ''formateur'' and was later asked by the King to start a communitarian dialogue together with Armand De Decker.
* Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD), Prime Minister of Belgium, was appointed ''informateur'' on December 3, 2007, and ''formateur'' of an interim government on December 17, 2007.

Election and immediate aftermath, 10 – 13 June

On June 10, federal elections were held in Belgium. In Flanders, the ruling purple coalition – the liberal Open VLD and the centre-left electoral list of Socialist Party – Different (SP.a) and Spirit – lost the most seats, while the electoral coalition CD&V/N-VA gained the most and the CD&V became the largest party in Flanders and Belgium. The CD&V/N-VA had an electoral program that emphasized the need for far-reaching state reform. Yves Leterme of the CD&V personally gained 800,000 votes and was considered to be the prospective prime minister. The SP.a, the party that lost the most seats, declared it would prepare itself for a role in the opposition, and would support state reform from that position.

In the French-speaking part of Belgium, the liberal party MR lost some seats but nevertheless became the largest party and replaced the Socialist Party (PS) as the dominant party for the first time in history. Before he was appointed ''informateur'', Didier Reynders, the MR party leader, indicated his preference for a coalition of Christian Democratic parties CD&V (Flanders) and CDH (Wallonia) and liberal parties MR (Wallonia) and Open VLD (Flanders) and noted the fact that the PS was no longer the largest francophone party "a state reform in itself". Reynders also emphasized that the MR was the largest political party of the largest political group, as the combined number of seats of liberals in Flanders and French-speaking Belgium (MR + Open VLD) surpassed the combined number of seats of the Christian-democrats (CD&V + CDH).

First information round, 13 June – 4 July

On 13 June 2007, King Albert II appointed Reynders as ''informateur''. The CD&V/N-VA caused a minor controversy when they immediately agreed with Reynders to stall constitutional reform until after the coinciding regional and European elections of 2009.

Reynders presented his 170-page final report, titled ''Develop, unite and protect'', to the king on 4 July 2007. It included a list of a record-breaking 450 people he talked to as ''informateur'' and contained an inventory of their views. Reynders talked to, among others, Guy Quaden, the Governor of the National Bank of Belgium, Joaquín Almunia, the European Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs, Herman De Croo, Anne-Marie Lizin, the leaders of trade unions and employers' organisations and several senior civil servants.

Mediation round, 5 – 15 July

Following the ''informateur's'' report, King Albert II on July 5 asked former Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene to accept a "mediation and negotiation assignment" in order to prepare the ground for the ''formateur'' and to look into the possibility of state reform. Dehaene reached the conclusion that only an orange-blue coalition with CD&V/N-VA, OpenVLD, MR and Humanist Democratic Centre was viable.

Initially Dehaene stated there should be a ''formateur'' by July 21, the Belgian national holiday, but he ended his assignment prematurely on Sunday July 15, one week before the July 21 deadline. The former mediator said the four orange-blue parties would accept an invitation to coalition talks, but that this did not "mean all obstacles have been removed, far from it!"

First formation round, 15 July – 23 August

Leterme begins his mission

The King then appointed Yves Leterme as ''formateur'' on Sunday July 15 with the task of forming a new government coalition after Jean-Luc Dehaene was relieved from his task as mediator and negotiator. On his first day as ''formateur'', Leterme met with outgoing Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD), the new President of the Chamber of Representatives, Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V), and the new President of the Senate, Armand De Decker ( MR). The following day, Tuesday July 17, Leterme received the presidents of the orange-blue parties: Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V), Bart De Wever (N-VA), Didier Reynders (MR), Bart Somers (Open VLD) and Joëlle Milquet (Humanist Democratic Centre).

On Monday July 23, ''Formateur'' Leterme presented his formation memorandum called ''The Power of People – Turning Challenges Into Opportunities Together''. This formation memorandum formed the basis for the real negotiations. It contained 80 pages and nine chapters about various issues; however, it did not contain a separate chapter on constitutional reform and devolution. In his memorandum, Leterme proposed lowering income taxes for those with low and median incomes, changing the unemployment benefits system, and expanding parental leave. He also wanted to keep several nuclear power stations open longer, build 1,500 additional prison cells, and establish an emergency budget for the FPS Justice to hire more people. The ''formateur'' did not want a collective regularisation of illegal immigrants, but proposed the establishment criteria to allow regularisation in individual cases.

Suspension of negotiations and consultations by the King

Coalition talks at Valley of the Duchess proceeded with much difficulty due to differences between Flemish and Francophone parties over constitutional reform, with communitarian tensions reaching a high on Thursday August 16. Negotiator for Humanist Democratic Centre Francis Delpérée described the situation with the following words: "Il y a un parfum de crise" (). Formal negotiations were temporarily suspended on Friday August 17, following a meeting between the King and the ''formateur'', to allow the King to conduct a series of political consultations. It was the third time since he was appointed ''formateur'' that Leterme reported to the King on the progress of the coalition talks. This move was heavily criticised by Johan Vande Lanotte, the outgoing chairman of the Flemish socialist party SP.A and a professor in constitutional law, who accused the parties involved in the coalition talks of forcing the King, who is supposed to remain impartial, to play a political role.

That evening, the King received Jo Vandeurzen, the CD&V chairman, and Didier Reynders, the chairman of the MR. The next day the King received the chairpersons of the two other orange-blue parties, Bart Somers (Open Vld) and Joëlle Milquet (CDH), in order to attempt to defuse the tensions. The King did not receive the chairmen of the N-VA and the FDF; however, Bart De Wever (N-VA) reportedly did receive an exploratory phone call from the Royal Palace. During the weekend, there also were informal consultations between the ''formateur'' and all other parties involved in the coalition talks.

Leterme resumes his mission and resigns

On Sunday August 19, the ''formateur'' Leterme was summoned by the King to discuss his consultations. Afterwards, the King asked him to resume his work as ''formateur'', but asked him to make new political contacts before resuming the negotiations. After further negotiations produced no results, Leterme resigned as ''formateur'' on August 23.

Consultations by the King, 23 – 29 August

Following Yves Leterme's resignation, King Albert asked Didier Reynders, the chairman of the Francophone liberal party MR and erstwhile ''informateur'', to seek a way out of the stalemate. At first, the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT) reported that Philippe Maystadt or Melchior Wathelet would probably take over, either as ''informateur'' or as royal mediator. The Flemish parties felt it was up to a member of CDH to take an initiative; however, the CDH wanted a Flemish politician to be involved in the mediation efforts as well. It was later reported that, according to observers, King Albert would probably ask Raymond Langendries (CDH) and Herman De Croo (Open Vld) to mediate.

On August 24, a survey conducted by VTM showed that 45.8% of the 1300 Flemings polled wanted Flanders to be declared independent and that 54.2% opposed such an action. The same survey showed that 58% of the respondents thought that the state reform is worth a crisis. Also, 72% could not understand the French-speaking opposition, and 53% thought that Milquet was to blame for the crisis and 15% thought that Leterme was to blame.

On August 25, the King received Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V), President of the Chamber of Representatives and Armand De Decker (MR), President of the Senate, and on August 27 the Royal Palace announced that the King would receive several ministers of State to discuss the political crisis. It was suggested by ''De Standaard'' that the King would not appoint the duo Langendries and De Croo because they were already named too much in the media which caused several politicians, such as Hendrik Bogaert (CD&V) and Bart De Wever (N-VA), to object or criticize such a choice. The Open VLD also held a press conference in which Bart Somers called the remarks about De Croo "inconvenient and unseen". He also said that the problem of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV) electoral district should be tackled before all other issues, something regarded by the VRT as a direct criticism of Leterme because he did not once mention this problem when he was ''formateur''. Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht in the coalition talks, described the government formation as "surrealistic" and added: "Ceci n'est pas une formation".

Jean-Luc Dehaene, Wilfried Martens and Philippe Moureaux were the first ministers of State to be received by the King. A photographer took a picture of a document Dehaene had with him when he arrived at the palace. The document reportedly stated that the state reform should not be an issue during the formation whereas the issue of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde should be included in a coalition agreement, and that all elections (federal, regional and European) should coincide in 2009. On Tuesday August 28, King Albert received Willy Claes ( SP.A), Gérard Deprez ( MR), Jos Geysels ( Groen!), Philippe Busquin ( PS), Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb (Humanist Democratic Centre) and José Daras (Ecolo). The following day, the King received three more ministers of State: Raymond Langendries (Humanist Democratic Centre), Herman De Croo (Open VLD) and Louis Michel ( MR).

Exploratory round, 29 August – 29 September

Van Rompuy begins his mission

Following consultations with a number of ministers of State, King Albert received Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V), the outgoing President of the Chamber of Representatives, and charged him with an exploratory mission in order to find a solution to the political crisis. Van Rompuy was considered by Flemish and French-speaking parties and newspapers as a good choice. He met on August 30 with the presidents of several parties of the orange-blue coalition, in particular Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V), Bart De Wever (N-VA), Bart Somers (Open VLD) and Jöelle Milquet (CDH). On August 31, he met with presidents Didier Reynders (MR), Olivier Maingain, (FDF) and Jean-Michel Javaux (Ecolo). The content of the discussions is unknown as Van Rompuy wanted to communicate and negotiate discreetly. ''De Standaard'' noted that Van Rompuy did not talk with a member of the PS, which could mean he wanted to reach the required two-thirds majority for constitutional reform with the ecologists (Ecolo on the French-speaking side) and rather that the PS.

Also on August 30, the Walloon government held its first meeting since the summer holidays. Rudy Demotte (PS), the minister-president of the Walloon government criticized the long duration of the government formation and was skeptical about whether Van Rompuy would be able to solve the crisis. He also said that he was waiting for formation proposals. On August 31, Milquet said institutional reform was less important than other topics and all French-speaking parties should formulate a common strategy. She also expressed her wish to replace the current "confrontational federalism" with a modern "cooperative federalism". Gérard Deprez (MCC, a part of the MR just like the FDF) criticized Maingain's (FDF) demand for the territorial expansion of the region of Brussels to several Flemish towns in return for the split of the BHV electoral district. Deprez said in ''La Libre Belgique'' that "Maingain acts like the Inquisition and excommunicates everyone that does not share his dogmas".

In an international press meeting, the Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang said that the formation crisis was an example of Belgium's failure to function as a state and that the time had come to declare Flemish independence. On September 1, the Flemish newspaper ''De Standaard'' devoted an issue to the question of whether a Flemish secession was realistic and viable. On September 2, during De Gordel, an annual Flemish cycling event in the periphery of Brussels with a strong political undertone, Eric Van Rompuy (CD&V) and federal minister of Internal Affairs Patrick Dewael (Open VLD) participated in the event, but did not comment on BHV. Prominent absentees were Yves Leterme and Guy Verhofstadt.

Non-participation of Ecolo

During this period, speculation about the participation of the French-speaking ecologist party Ecolo in the orange-blue coalition increased. Van Rompuy tried to obtain the support of Ecolo for the coalition to address left-winged CDH's desire to have a left-wing partner in the centre-right coalition.

On September 3, Ecolo said that three conditions must be met for it to participate in a coalition. First, the party refused to join any coalition involving N-VA. A coalition without the N-VA would "respect the different communities" of Belgium. Second, Groen!, the Flemish ecologists would have to be part of the coalition as well. Third, formation would have to be renegotiated to give the climate change a central place in the coalition programme.

CD&V/N-VA said Ecolo's demands could not "be taken seriously" because the CD&V without the N-VA was unthinkable. They also said the presence of N-VA was not a problem, but that the problem is the unreasonableness of the French-speaking parties to negotiate around the Flemish demands. Groen! said it was unwilling to participate in a coalition in which it is not necessary to obtain a majority in parliament. The need to undertake the negotiations again also meant the agreement between the partners about the prolonged existence of several nuclear power plants had to be reconsidered.

Herman Van Rompuy provided the King a first interim report on September 3. Although his effort to include Ecolo in the coalition failed, Van Rompuy continued his mission despite a general decline in optimism about his likelihood of success of his mission steeply declined. He formulated several proposals that he suggested to the orange-blue parties. On 10 September, Van Rompuy provided the King with a second "interim" report – something that indicated his work would be prolonged.

Plenary session of the Flemish parliament

Filip Dewinter of the Vlaams Belang proposed to have an earlier plenary session in the Flemish parliament to discuss the communitarian crisis, a request that was granted. On September 10, under the eyes of the international media, he proposed in the plenary session to prepare a plan for an independent Flanders and to hold a referendum on independence. He said that the Flemish resolutions agreed upon in the Flemish parliament in 1999 (that supported a far-reaching devolution of powers) were a breaking point. He also called Belgium "a country that is terminally ill" and that it was time to say "bye bye Belgium".

Other parties vehemently opposed the course of action, proposed by Dewinter. For instance, Ludwig Caluwé (CD&V) said that the Flemish Interest did not vote for the resolutions in 1999. He added that more power to the regions does not imply the end of inter-regional solidarity. Patrcia Ceysens (Open VLD) said that "the country is not going to split, the parliament is not going to declare independence."

Leterme's controversial remark

In Karrewiet, a Flemish news program for children, Leterme was interviewed. He said "We could make sure that they rench-speaking Belgiumcould build schools more cheaply. That would be beneficial for students from Wallonia and Brussels. Maybe if we could agree about that, French-speakers would be willing to negotiate about our demands."

French-speaking politicians and the French-speaking media were enraged about Leterme's remark. Marie Arena (PS) and Joëlle Milquet (CDH) interpreted Leterme's remark as making the Flemish youth believe Walloon parties are only interested in money and could be bribed. They also said that the lower VAT for building schools was already agreed upon in a six-year-old accord which was still not executed. Milquet said that Leterme should refrain from giving interviews.

Wilfried Martens (CD&V) criticized the French-speaking side of the country for misinterpreting a "sign of goodwill" made by Leterme. Karel de Gucht

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