Belgium Forms New Government With Five Parties in Coalition
Bart De Wever takes oath of office in Belgium, Feb. 3, 2025. X/ @Bart_DeWever
February 3, 2025 Hour: 10:50 am
The right-leaning government was formed after nearly eight months of negotiations following the 2024 elections.
The members of Belgium’s new government will be sworn into office on Monday. Among them are ministers from three Flemish parties and two Walloon parties. The cabinet includes only one-third women, none of whom will be part of the restricted Council of Ministers, which forms the core of the Executive in times of crisis.
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One of the country’s leading French-language newspapers, Le Soir, has described the distribution of positions and political balance as “the great game of musical chairs” within the government, which was formed on Friday after nearly eight months of negotiations following the June 9, 2024, elections and several failed attempts to establish an Executive.
Four members of the new government belong to the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA): Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Pensions Jan Jambon, Minister of Defense and Trade Theo Francken, and Minister of Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt.
Upon arriving at the European leaders’ summit in Brussels, De Wever pledged that his administration would move “toward a stricter immigration policy within the legal framework of Europe” because that is what “citizens demand.”
The second-largest party in terms of government representation is the French-speaking center-right Reformist Party (MR), led by former Belgian Prime Minister and former President of the European Council Charles Michel. They will hold the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Employment and Economy, David Clarinval; Minister of Interior, Bernard Quintin; Minister of the Middle Class, SMEs, and the Self-Employed, Eleonore Simonet; and Minister of Energy, Mathieu Bihet.
Three ministers will come from the French-speaking Christian Democrats of Les Engages, who will appoint Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Prevot; Minister of Public Action and Modernization, Vanessa Matz; and Minister of Mobility, Climate, and Environmental Transition, Jean-Luc Crucke.
The two smallest coalition partners will be two Flemish parties. On one side, the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V) will hold the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget and Administrative Simplification, Vincent Van Peteghem, and Minister of Justice, Annelies Verlinden.
On the other side, the Dutch-speaking socialist party Vooruit will participate with Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke and Minister of Consumer Protection, Equal Opportunities, and Social Fraud, Rob Beenders.
The change in Belgium’s prime minister and the departure of Alexander De Croo (from the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats) means that the liberal Renew Europe group loses one of the seats it previously held on the European Council.
However, De Wever is not easily classified under a single European political party, as his Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are aligned with the European Conservatives and Reformists group alongside Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Poland’s Law and Justice party. His party is also part of the European Free Alliance, which includes formations such as the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE