Belgian coalition government talks extended until Thursday, palace says

Bart De Wever, President of Flemish right-wing party N-VA, arrives for a meeting with Belgium's King Philippe at the Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium May 27, 2019. /Francois Lenoir/File Photo

BRUSSELS - Belgian politician Bart De Wever, appointed by King Philippe to lead coalition talks following the country's June election, has received an extension until Thursday from the king to form a government, the Royal Palace said in a statement on Monday.

De Wever is trying to form a coalition between five parties, including his Flemish nationalist N-VA (New Flemish Alliance), the largest party in Dutch-speaking region Flanders and the country as a whole, and the liberal MR (Reformist Movement), number one in the Brussels region and French-speaking Wallonia.

"Mr. De Wever reported to the King on his mission to form a new government. A new audience is scheduled Thursday evening, Aug. 22," the palace said.

The other parties in the talks are the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V), Flemish socialist party Vooruit and francophone centrist party Les Engagés.

The coalition De Wever is trying to form is called the Arizona coalition, in a reference to the flag of the U.S. state Arizona, whose flag combines the blue, red, yellow and orange colours of the parties in the talks.

Representatives of the five parties did not manage to agree on a De Wever proposal and suspended talks early on Monday, Belgian media reported.

The palace gave no detail about the talks, but Belgian media have reported that they hinge on social-economical reforms, notably labour market, pension and tax reforms.

Belgian financial dailies have reported that the parties are trying to agree on a major reform of financial asset taxation, including the introduction of a 10% capital gains tax on the sale of financial assets such as stocks and bonds (with an exemption on the first 6,000 euros ($6,600) of capital gains).

Other proposals are the lowering of the withholding tax on financial assets to 25% from 30% and the extension of tax exemptions on savings book accounts to other financial savings accounts, state bonds and other forms of fixed-income revenue.

Belgium holds the world record for the longest government formation - the longest one took 541 days in 2010-2011.