Flemish conservative chief Bart de Wever became officially on Monday, February 3, officially, the new Belgian Prime Minister, oathing before King Philippe at the Royal Palace with the 14 members of his government, an AFP journalist reported. The 54 -year -old leader, including 12 years as mayor of Antwerp (North), is the first Flemish separatist to take the lead in the federal government in Belgium.
Almost eight months after the legislative elections, marked by the victory of his party (N-VA) in Flanders, he will anchor the country more on the right with the four partner parties of his coalition. Bart de Wever has promised to be stricter on asylum policy, security and “reward work” by limiting the right to unemployment benefits to two years.
Shortly after 9:00 am, he was the first member of the government to advance to King Philippe to take an oath before the sovereign, the institutional stage which marks the entry of the new government. On the casting side, this team ignores the principle of parity. It has a total of 11 men for four women. “I am surprised, it’s a shame,” said Bart de Wever on Sunday, recalling that the designation of ministers was the responsibility of the leaders of the parties engaged in the coalition.
A coalition agreement found after seven months
The new team succeeds that of the Liberal Alexander de Croo in place since October 2020. He signed the return to power of the Neoflamande Alliance (N-VA), already associated with a center-right government between 2014 and 2018. After a long Waiting from seven and a half months since the June elections, a coalition agreement had been sealed on Friday evening between the five parties. The agreement was made complicated by the budgetary effort and the important socio-economic reforms to be carried out to clean up public finances.
In addition to the N-VA -Dont Bart de Wever abandons the presidency-the coalition brings together Christians Democrats (CD&V) and the Flemish socialists (Vooruit), as well as two French-speaking formations, the reform movement (MR, Liberal) and the committed (centrist). The five parties represent 81 of the 150 deputies of the new chamber elected on June 9.
While Belgium is among the EU countries targeted by an excessive deficit procedure, it is a question of generating 20 billion euros to gradually enter European nails, by limiting public spending in many sectors. A prospect feared by the unions, which called for a new mobilization in Brussels on February 13 in order to defend the special retirement plans.