 Bruno Tobback, member of the Flemish socialists, delivers a speech during a plenary session at the chamber in the federal parliament, in Brussels. AFP photo. |
Belgium’s bickering political leaders failed to restart seven-party negotiations to form a government, prolonging the deadlock in Europe’s third-most-indebted country as powerful N-VA Flemish separatist party on Wednesday rejected a new proposal aimed at reviving talks to end the country's longest political crisis.
After more than six months without a government, leaders of language-divided Belgium were to announce by Wednesday evening whether they were ready to thrash out their differences on the basis of a 60-page document released this week.
But Flemish nationalists balked at a compromise designed to shift more power to the Dutch-speaking north, their home region, and rejected a plea by the French-speaking Socialists to immediately re-enter talks to forge a coalition to run the linguistically split country.
The New Flemish Alliance, or N-VA, which won the top score at the country's last indecisive elections, said it had "fundamental remarks," or objections, on the text. It outlines a compromise to reform the Belgian state offering each of the country's communities more autonomy in line with demands from the independence-minded N-VA and other Flemish parties. "We will see if these remarks are acceptable to the other parties," the N-VA said in a statement. "We will then see conclude whether there is any sense in engaging in final negotiations."
The seven political parties - four from Dutch-speaking Flanders, three from French-speaking Wallonia - slated to form a coalition government had been handed the compromise proposal this week by a go-between named by Albert II.
The country's second biggest political formation, the French-speaking Socialists, were still to make their response known. The N-VA picked up a whopping 28 percent in Flanders at the June 13 elections that failed to produce an outright winner and raised the specter of a break-up of the country.
A string of efforts since to hammer out a compromise have failed one after the other, leaving Belgium rudderless for a record 206 days. The N-VA, which represents the once rurally-poor but now wealthier 6.2 million Dutch speakers, complains of footing the national bill for the 4.5 million francophones.
It wants more autonomy and more power over the public purse but its demands have hit a wall of resistance from the French-speaking Socialists who won the majority among Wallonia's voters in the June poll.
Political turmoil seven months after federal elections heightens the risk that Belgium’s sovereign debt rating will be cut and puts pressure on the caretaker government to enact deficit reductions to appease investors concerned about the ripple effects of Europe’s fiscal crisis. Belgian bonds dropped in reaction to the political setback, pushing up the 10-year yield by 10 basis points to 4.04 percent.
Compiled from AFP and Bloomberg reports by the Daily News staff.
After more than six months without a government, leaders of language-divided Belgium were to announce by Wednesday evening whether they were ready to thrash out their differences on the basis of a 60-page document released this week.
But Flemish nationalists balked at a compromise designed to shift more power to the Dutch-speaking north, their home region, and rejected a plea by the French-speaking Socialists to immediately re-enter talks to forge a coalition to run the linguistically split country.
The New Flemish Alliance, or N-VA, which won the top score at the country's last indecisive elections, said it had "fundamental remarks," or objections, on the text. It outlines a compromise to reform the Belgian state offering each of the country's communities more autonomy in line with demands from the independence-minded N-VA and other Flemish parties. "We will see if these remarks are acceptable to the other parties," the N-VA said in a statement. "We will then see conclude whether there is any sense in engaging in final negotiations."
The seven political parties - four from Dutch-speaking Flanders, three from French-speaking Wallonia - slated to form a coalition government had been handed the compromise proposal this week by a go-between named by Albert II.
The country's second biggest political formation, the French-speaking Socialists, were still to make their response known. The N-VA picked up a whopping 28 percent in Flanders at the June 13 elections that failed to produce an outright winner and raised the specter of a break-up of the country.
A string of efforts since to hammer out a compromise have failed one after the other, leaving Belgium rudderless for a record 206 days. The N-VA, which represents the once rurally-poor but now wealthier 6.2 million Dutch speakers, complains of footing the national bill for the 4.5 million francophones.
It wants more autonomy and more power over the public purse but its demands have hit a wall of resistance from the French-speaking Socialists who won the majority among Wallonia's voters in the June poll.
Political turmoil seven months after federal elections heightens the risk that Belgium’s sovereign debt rating will be cut and puts pressure on the caretaker government to enact deficit reductions to appease investors concerned about the ripple effects of Europe’s fiscal crisis. Belgian bonds dropped in reaction to the political setback, pushing up the 10-year yield by 10 basis points to 4.04 percent.
Compiled from AFP and Bloomberg reports by the Daily News staff.
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