"Full coalition accord on 15 November"

29 October 2007

BRUSSEL – The Christian democrat and liberal negotiators hope to have reached a comprehensive coalition agreement by about 15 November, including solutions for the state reform, the budget and the division of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral district.

By Wednesday evening formateur Yves Leterme (CD&V-NVA) hopes to be finished with a coalition accord covering all issues except for the three thorny topics mentioned above. A few days of holidays will follow before the negotiations on state reform, BHV and the budget are resumed.

The negotiators convened on Monday morning to continue talks on the labour market policy. The discussion promises to be a difficult one. The sticking points in this dossier are the activation of the unemployed and the possible limitation on the duration of unemployment benefits.

After the lunch break today Leterme was expected to report to the king at Belvedere castle. After that the negotiators will resume the plenary meeting on the labour market, and will also hold talks on the changes to healthcare that will be included in the future coalition agreement.

On Wednesday evening the formateur hopes to be able to present a full coalition agreement, without the inclusion of the three problem issues however. These issues will be broached when talks resume on 5 November.

Subject: Belgian news

“Full coalition accord on 15 November”