The 2007–2008 Belgian government formation followed the general election of 10 June 2007, and comprised a period of negotiation in which the Flemish parties Flemish Liberal Democratic (Open VLD), Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), and the French-speaking parties Reformist Movement (MR), Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF) and Humanist Democratic Centre (CdH) negotiated to form a government coalition. The negotiations were characterized by the disagreement between the Dutch- and French-speaking parties about the need for and nature of a constitutional reform. According to some, this political conflict could have led to a partition of Belgium.
On November 6, the formation talks became the longest in Belgian history. When the Parliament confirmed the formation of an interim Government, it had been 196 days since the Belgian people had voted out the previous coalition. It was the second longest formation period in European history, after the Dutch record of 208 days in 1977. Talks were interrupted twice by the resignation of the formateur, which left the political parties waiting for a new appointment by the King. Guy Verhofstadt was appointed as mediator on December 3, with the task not only of looking into the formation of a new government, but also of investigating how the government could handle certain urgent policy matters. Pressed by time, and some say by the King, on 19 December, Verhofstadt concluded a deal on a Government and presented it to Parliament on 21 December; on the same day the Ministers took the oath of office.
On Sunday 23 December, the interim Government officially came into office when it was acknowledged by the lower house of Parliament with 97 votes in favour. The transitional period came to an end on March 20, 2008, when Yves Leterme was sworn in as Prime Minister. The new government seemed short-lived as Leterme offered the King his resignation on 15 July 2008. The King refused.
Conventions After a federal election, the process of government formation starts. This process is based on constitutional convention rather than written law and generally consists of two stages: information and formation. The King consults the presidents of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate and a number of prominent politicians in order to discuss the election results. Following these meetings, he appoints an informateur.
The informateur has the task of exploring the various possibilities for a new federal government and for examining which parties can form a majority in the Federal Parliament. He also meets with prominent people in various fields to hear their views on what policies the new federal government should pursue. The informateur then reports to the King and advises him about the appointment of a formateur. However, the King can also decide to appoint a second informateur or appoint a royal mediator.
The formateur, who is usually the prospective prime minister is appointed by the King on the basis of the informateur's report. The task of the formateur is to form a new government coalition and lead the negotiations about the government agreement and the composition of the government. If these negotiations succeed, the formateur presents a new federal government to the King.
Parties involved in the 2007 government formation +List of negotiation leaders From Until Name Party Function June 13, 2007 July 4, 2007 Didier Reynders MR informateur July 5, 2007 July 15, 2007 Jean-Luc Dehaene CD&V mediator July 15, 2007 August 23, 2007 Yves Leterme CD&V formateur August 29, 2007 September 29, 2007 Herman Van Rompuy CD&V explorator September 29, 2007 December 1, 2007 Yves Leterme CD&V formateur December 4, 2007 December 17, 2007 Guy Verhofstadt VLD informateur December 17, 2007 December 23, 2007 Guy Verhofstadt VLD formateur
+List of heads of government From Until Name Party Function July 12, 1999 June 11, 2007 Guy Verhofstadt VLD Prime Minister (PM) June 11, 2007 December 23, 2007 Guy Verhofstadt VLD resigning PM December 23, 2007 March 20, 2008 Guy Verhofstadt VLD Prime Minister (PM) March 20, 2008 December 30, 2008 Yves Leterme CD&V Prime Minister (PM) Armand De Decker (MR), President of the Senate, was asked by the King to start an inter-community dialogue together with Herman Van Rompuy. Bart De Wever, leader of the New Flemish Alliance (Flemish nationalist). Yves Leterme, frontman of the CD&V, has been appointed formateur twice by the King. Olivier Maingain, leader of the FDF (Walloon nationalist). Joëlle Milquet, leader of the Walloon Christian Democratic party (CDH). (nicknamed Madame Non by the Flemish press) Didier Reynders, leader of the Walloon Liberal party (MR), has been appointed informateur. Bart Somers, leader of the Flemish Liberal party (Open VLD). Jo Vandeurzen, leader of the Flemish Christian Democratic party (CD&V). Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V), President of the Chamber of Representatives, was appointed explorator after the first failure of the formateur and was later asked by the King to start a communitarian dialogue together with Armand De Decker. Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD), Prime Minister of Belgium, was appointed informateur on December 3, 2007, and formateur of an interim government on December 17, 2007.
Election and immediate aftermath, 10 – 13 June
On June 10, federal elections were held in Belgium. In Flanders, the ruling purple coalition – the liberal Open VLD and the centre-left electoral list of Socialist Party – Different (SP.a) and Spirit – lost the most seats, while the electoral coalition CD&V/N-VA gained the most and the CD&V became the largest party in Flanders and Belgium. The CD&V/N-VA had an electoral program that emphasized the need for far-reaching state reform. Yves Leterme of the CD&V personally gained 800,000 votes and was considered to be the prospective prime minister. The SP.a, the party that lost the most seats, declared it would prepare itself for a role in the opposition, and would support state reform from that position.
In the French-speaking part of Belgium, the liberal party MR lost some seats but nevertheless became the largest party and replaced the Socialist Party (PS) as the dominant party for the first time in history. Before he was appointed informateur, Didier Reynders, the MR party leader, indicated his preference for a coalition of Christian Democratic parties CD&V (Flanders) and CDH (Wallonia) and liberal parties MR (Wallonia) and Open VLD (Flanders) and noted the fact that the PS was no longer the largest francophone party "a state reform in itself". Reynders also emphasized that the MR was the largest political party of the largest political group, as the combined number of seats of liberals in Flanders and French-speaking Belgium (MR + Open VLD) surpassed the combined number of seats of the Christian-democrats (CD&V + CDH).
First information round, 13 June – 4 July On 13 June 2007, King Albert II appointed Reynders as informateur. The CD&V/N-VA caused a minor controversy when they immediately agreed with Reynders to stall constitutional reform until after the coinciding regional and European elections of 2009.
Reynders presented his 170-page final report, titled Develop, unite and protect, to the king on 4 July 2007. It included a list of a record-breaking 450 people he talked to as informateur and contained an inventory of their views. Reynders talked to, among others, Guy Quaden, the Governor of the National Bank of Belgium, Joaquín Almunia, the European Commissioner for Economic & Financial Affairs, Herman De Croo, Anne-Marie Lizin, the leaders of trade unions and employers' organisations and several senior civil servants.
Mediation round, 5 – 15 July Following the informateur's report, King Albert II on July 5 asked former Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene to accept a "mediation and negotiation assignment" in order to prepare the ground for the formateur and to look into the possibility of state reform. Dehaene reached the conclusion that only an orange-blue coalition with CD&V/N-VA, OpenVLD, MR and Humanist Democratic Centre was viable.
Initially Dehaene stated there should be a formateur by July 21, the Belgian national holiday, but he ended his assignment prematurely on Sunday July 15, one week before the July 21 deadline. The former mediator said the four orange-blue parties would accept an invitation to coalition talks, but that this did not "mean all obstacles have been removed, far from it!"
First formation round, 15 July – 23 August
Leterme begins his mission The King then appointed Yves Leterme as formateur on Sunday July 15 with the task of forming a new government coalition after Jean-Luc Dehaene was relieved from his task as mediator and negotiator. On his first day as formateur, Leterme met with outgoing Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD), the new President of the Chamber of Representatives, Herman Van Rompuy (CD&V), and the new President of the Senate, Armand De Decker (MR). The following day, Tuesday July 17, Leterme received the presidents of the orange-blue parties: Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V), Bart De Wever (N-VA), Didier Reynders (MR), Bart Somers (Open VLD) and Joëlle Milquet (Humanist Democratic Centre).
On Monday July 23, Formateur Leterme presented his formation memorandum called The Power of People – Turning Challenges Into Opportunities Together. This formation memorandum formed the basis for the real negotiations. It contained 80 pages and nine chapters about various issues; however, it did not contain a separate chapter on constitutional reform and devolution. In his memorandum, Leterme proposed lowering income taxes for those with low and median incomes, changing the unemployment benefits system, and expanding parental leave. He also wanted to keep several nuclear power stations open longer, build 1,500 additional prison cells, and establish an emergency budget for the FPS Justice to hire more people. The formateur did not want a collective regularisation of illegal immigrants, but proposed the establishment criteria to allow regularisation in individual cases.
Suspension of negotiations and consultations by the King Coalition talks at Valley of the Duchess proceeded with much difficulty due to differences between Flemish and Francophone parties over constitutional reform, with communitarian tensions reaching a high on Thursday August 16. Negotiator for Humanist Democratic Centre Francis Delpérée described the situation with the following words: "Il y a un parfum de crise" (). Formal negotiations were temporarily suspended on Friday August 17, following a meeting between the King and the formateur, to allow the King to conduct a series of political consultations. It was the third time since he was appointed formateur that Leterme reported to the King on the progress of the coalition talks. This move was heavily criticised by Johan Vande Lanotte, the outgoing chairman of the Flemish socialist party SP.A and a professor in constitutional law, who accused the parties involved in the coalition talks of forcing the King, who is supposed to remain impartial, to play a political role.
That evening, the King received Jo Vandeurzen, the CD&V chairman, and Didier Reynders, the chairman of the MR. The next day the King received the chairpersons of the two other orange-blue parties, Bart Somers (Open Vld) and Joëlle Milquet (CDH), in order to attempt to defuse the tensions. The King did not receive the chairmen of the N-VA and the FDF; however, Bart De Wever (N-VA) reportedly did receive an exploratory phone call from the Royal Palace. During the weekend, there also were informal consultations between the formateur and all other parties involved in the coalition talks.
Leterme resumes his mission and resigns