More than two-thirds of Belgians are dissatisfied with the prolonged negotiations to form a federal government, which have been ongoing since July.
This is according to a survey conducted by the Ipsos agency for several Belgian media outlets, including Le Soir and RTL Info.
The survey shows that 68% of Belgians believe that the negotiations for forming a federal coalition are taking too long. Residents of the southern region of Wallonia are slightly more outraged (72%), compared to 66% among Flemish respondents.
One potential solution could be the creation of an emergency government to pass Belgium’s budget. However, 49% of respondents oppose such a scenario, according to the survey.
Belgium has been without a permanent federal government for nearly 170 days. Since mid-July, following the resignation of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo after his party’s defeat in the European Parliament elections, negotiations to form a coalition have been led by Bart De Wever, leader of the Flemish nationalist N-VA party. He has been attempting to build a five-party coalition involving Les Engagés, the French-speaking center-right Reformist Movement (MR), the Dutch-speaking centrist Christian Democratic and Flemish Party (CD&V), and Vooruit (“Forward”).
As the sole center-left party in the negotiations, Vooruit has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with proposed socio-economic measures. In early November, the party announced its withdrawal from the talks, citing frustration over the coalition program’s excessively right-wing direction.
