Expatica news

Formation talks restarted

27 September 2007

BRUSSELS – Herman Van Rompuy , the man charged with finding a solution to the deadlocked government formation talks, and the leaders of the liberal and Christian democrat parties will meet again on Thursday evening. The state reform is on the agenda today; the negotiators want to leave the sensitive issue of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral district for a later date in the talks.

On Wednesday evening the negotiators of the liberal and Christian democrat parties talked about the state reform until 9.30 pm. Social economic issues had been broached on Tuesday afternoon. The fact that all the negotiators are once again sitting around the table is a real breakthrough.

Negotiators from Flemish Christian democrats/New Flemish Alliance CD&V-NVA, francophone liberal MR, francophone humanist democrats CDH and Flemish liberal Open VLD will sit down together Thursday evening again. The talks on state reform will take place in four phases. In the first phase more minor measures will be discussed. The second phase will be concerned with the planning of elections. The third and fourth phases will be broached in the course of the government term.

In this last phase a council of wise men will be called in to work out a plan for broad state reform. At the moment the parties are discussing how detailed the phases should be planned out.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news