De Wever persists with bilateral meetings after budget talks stall
Get European news in your inbox daily
A short daily digest of the whole continent — or just the countries you care about.
Check your email. We've sent a confirmation link — click it to complete your subscription.
Federal budget negotiations have stalled again. Bart De Wever continues to hold bilateral meetings following his latest proposal, though parties including Vooruit, CD&V, and Les Engagés reportedly find the current math difficult to accept. New projections from the national insurance institute suggest the number of long-term sick will decrease by 2029, a figure that puts the ongoing negotiations into sharp focus as the treasury searches for savings.
The Defense Minister, Theo Francken, has proposed a return to a version of the Gendarmerie to better coordinate security efforts. Meanwhile, the television personality Gert Verhulst has awarded himself a €2.3 million profit from his company, Studio 100. Mr Verhulst took the occasion to dismiss rumors of a sale, noting that his children do not strictly need the business to survive.
A new podcast has begun revisiting the White March, thirty years after the country’s largest citizen protest. Other issues have come to the fore: a shopkeeper in Anderlecht is protesting open drug dealing in his neighborhood, and school administrators report they are unable to find enough replacement teachers to cover basic absences.