Political chaos in Belgium: Prime Minister De Wever prepares to step down

Prime minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) will see the king today, likely to offer his resignation, government sources have also confirmed.

Clarinval pointed the finger at Vooruit, accusing the Flemish socialists of insisting on smaller spending cuts and higher taxes—the exact opposite of what MR wants. "I said there were too many taxes," Clarinval said, referring to more than 3 billion euros in taxes that had reportedly been on the table.

Other parties dispute that the budget tables show such a high revenue figure. Until now, the discussions had consistently referred to around 2 billion euros in additional revenue as part of efforts to raise 10 billion by 2029.

According to one source, MR, Vooruit, and Les Engagés all stuck to their established positions. For the latter two parties, limiting the growth rate in healthcare spending was a sticking point. The source said there was no outright confrontation, but at one point the prime minister concluded a compromise was out of reach.

The talks began at around 9 pm on Sunday and lasted until about 1 am. After meeting with the vice-premiers one by one in separate meetings over the weekend, the prime minister put a new budget on the table on Sunday evening. Those bilateral talks had already revealed that Vooruit and Les Engagés seemed to agree that the "broadest shoulders" should contribute more. Liberal sources, meanwhile, told the media that Les Engagés had put a "horror list" of tax measures on the table.

With the core cabinet having failed to reach an agreement, hopes of entering the new year with a full budget appear to have faded. Prime minister De Wever had previously made clear that he would not consider a system of provisional monthly budget allocations.

Earlier, it was reported that Christine Lagarde is set to step down as the President of the European Central Bank in February.