Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever asked the king to extend the time for a budget agreement until Christmas. He warned against the risk of paralysis of the government and the budget provisional.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever announced on Thursday that he had asked King Philippe of Belgium to give the government time until Christmas to agree on a new state budget. The government parties have not yet agreed on it, and therefore there is a risk of the collapse of the government coalition, TASR writes, according to reports from the AFP agency and Politico magazine.
The government parties are trying to keep the coalition promise to reduce budget spending by 10 billion euros by 2030. The Prime Minister requested a new 50-day deadline for this and emphasized that it will not be extended. He had previously insisted that he would conclude the agreement with the partners by Thursday.
Request for a royal appointment
“Our situation cannot tolerate any more delay,” he told members of parliament after speaking with the king. “We cannot afford to be paralyzed. We must act decisively and show that this country is resilient. That is why I said, ‘Your Majesty, give me 50 days,'” De Wever said.
The current government has already missed several deadlines for reaching an agreement on the budget. Disputes are mainly due to VAT increases, some spending cuts and the suspension of the automatic wage indexation system. Without an agreement, there is a threat of a provisional budget, and the country will be able to spend one-twelfth of the budget approved for this year per month.
The EU is putting pressure on Belgium
In addition to the domestic political dispute over the state budget, Belgium is under pressure from the European Union (EU). It is about using 140 billion euros in frozen Russian assets stored in Brussels to help Ukraine. The European Commission (EC) plans to meet with the Belgian government on Friday.
