After nearly eight months of negotiations, Belgium has reached an agreement to form a five-party governing coalition. Bart de Vever, the leader of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) who won the June election, will become Belgium’s first Flemish nationalist prime minister.

De Vever’s appointment comes after lengthy negotiations following the June 9, 2024 elections. The new government brings together the right-wing Flemish party “N-VA”, the French-speaking party “MR” (liberals), the Flemish Christian Democrats “CD&V”, the French-speaking centrist party “Les Engagés” and the Flemish socialists “Vooruit”, which is the only left-wing partner in the governing coalition.

These five parties have a combined total of 81 seats out of a total of 150 in the new parliament as it was formed after the June 9 elections.

The government agreement still needs to be ratified by the five parties that will meet over the weekend, and Bart de Vever could be sworn in as Belgium’s prime minister on Monday.

Bart de Vever, 54, mayor of Antwerp since 2013 and a controversial figure particularly in French-speaking Belgium, will replace Flemish Liberal Alexander de Crewe. The outgoing prime minister, de Crewe took office in October 2020 but his seven-party government has been under resignation since the June elections, in which his Open VLD party suffered a crushing defeat.

The French-language Belgian press notes that Bart de Vever’s impending appointment marks a “historic change”, as he has long advocated greater Flemish autonomy and has often criticised the Belgian state. His appointment will test Belgium’s fragile federal structure and the delicate balance between Flanders and Wallonia, the Belgian press commented. De Vever’s political career has long been defined by his push for confederation, a model that would grant Flanders and Wallonia more autonomy while keeping Belgium as a loose federal structure.

“De Vever prime minister, the man who didn’t want to be prime minister” is the front page headline in today’s French-language newspaper Le Soir, while an opinion editorial in the same newspaper is headlined “De Vever from devil to prime minister”. A similar headline is given to an opinion piece in Libre Belgique: ‘The country’s dynamo becomes prime minister’. The financial French-language newspaper ‘Echo’ has the headline: “ARIZONA government is born with tongs”, while “Derniere heure”: “After 236 days, a government at last”.

The Belgian news agency, “Belga”, comments that “de Vever has worked hard to soften his image” and has also made an “effort to improve his French”. His rejection of an alliance with “Vlaams Belang” has helped boost his credibility among French-speaking politicians, and his behaviour during the government formation talks, which was praised by top negotiators, suggests a more pragmatic approach. However, doubts remain about his real intentions. De Vever insists he intends to govern all Belgians, but some suspect he is using his premiership to push his confederal agenda. The changing political landscape in French-speaking Belgium, where calls for tougher immigration policies and economic reforms have increased, may have made his policies more acceptable to some voters.

Finally, note that Belgium has a tradition of long-standing talks to form a government. This time the talks lasted 236 days, a far cry from the record 541 days in 2010-2011.