Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever was at the royal palace on Monday morning to offer his government’s resignation to King Philippe following failed overnight budget talks.
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It comes after overnight negotiations with his core cabinet on the budget failed to reach an agreement.
De Wever left the palace after meeting with King Philippe for around 1.5 hours without addressing the press.
Following the meeting, the king announced he “is taking his decision under consideration and will consult the chairs of the various coalition parties from tomorrow.”
He added that he regrets that no agreement has been reached and that the country cannot afford a prolonged political crisis.
He calls on all parties involved “to put the general interest and a willingness to compromise first”. De Wever is set to meet with the king again on Friday.
According to Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, there were “too many sticking points”. “If I were to list all the sticking points, it would take an eternity,” he told Belgian media.
The government must save €10 billion to stay within EU spending limits.
The budget deficit amounted to 5% last year, while a deficit of a maximum of 3% is permitted under European rules.
The Belgian national debt amounts to over €735 billion, more than 110% of Belgium’s GDP, while 60% is permitted.
Due to the failure to reach an agreement, interest rates on government bonds have increased, and Belgium has to pay more to meet its debt obligations.
If the King accepts De Wever’s resignation, new elections will be called.
Left-right divide
Belgium’s coalition government is made up of De Wever’s conservative N-VA, liberals MR, centrists Les Engagés, socialists Vooruit and Christian Democrats CD&V. The agreement between the so-called “Arizona” parties was reached after a striking 234 days of negotiations.
Sunday’s budget talks showed that disagreements persisted between the N-VA and MR on one side of the coalition and Vooruit, CD&V and Les Engagés on the other. The centrist and socialist parties want €1 billion to €1.5 billion to come from taxing higher incomes, while the conservatives want to clamp down on spending.
Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval blamed the socialist Vooruit for the failed talks as they insisted on their position for higher taxes.
Matti Vandemaele of opposition party Groen said “Prime Minister De Wever is failing to get his government on the same page, unless everyone follows his N-VA programme.”
“De Wever likes to present himself as the man of the big deals, but in practice he is mainly the prime minister of standstill. The fact that we risk falling back on provisional twelfths for the second year in a row is a complete humiliation for a sitting prime minister.”
This is not the first time the Arizona-coalition faced internal tension in the budget negotiations. Last year, De Wever also addressed the king following fruitless talks on how to save €10 billion.
In early November 2025, De Wever did not offer his resignation, but asked the king to extend the deadline, receiving 50 extra days to reach an agreement.
