The country’s tense negotiations hinged on taxing and social spending — and they highlight issues facing Europe, and Western democracies, as a whole.
Koba Ryckewaert and Jeanna Smialek
Reporting from Brussels
Belgium reached an agreement to form a coalition government on Friday, the nation’s monarchy announced, ending seven months of partisan squabbling over deeply unpopular proposed cuts to social spending and other issues. Full details about the agreement were yet to be officially released.
The new government was formed under the stewardship of Bart De Wever, the leader of a conservative Flemish nationalist party, the New Flemish Alliance. The party won elections in June with 17 percent of the vote, the largest share of the contenders, in a win that was a victory over a far-right separatist party.
With Friday’s agreement, Mr. De Wever is poised to become the country’s next prime minister, leading a five-party coalition that has been negotiating with a hard line on migration and cuts to the country’s pension and heath care systems. Mr. De Wever’s party joined forces with the liberal Reformist Movement and the centrist Les Engagés, two Francophone parties, as well as the Flemish socialist party Vooruit (Forward) and the party Christian Democratic and Flemish.
Belgium, whose capital, Brussels, is home to the headquarters of both the European Union and NATO, has a population of just 12 million people and represents only about 3.4 percent of the European Union’s total gross domestic product. But it faces many of the challenges common to European nations, including an aging population that is driving up the cost of its pensions and health care.
Partly because of that, the nation has a relatively large deficit, around 4.6 percent of gross domestic product last year, based on estimates. European Union fiscal rules that went into effect last year have ramped up the pressure to control costs.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and your Times account, or for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Want all of The Times? .
Source: www.nytimes.com