N-VA leader Bart De Wever and new PM Charles Michel

After less than five months, a relatively short period by local standards, a new federal Belgian government has been agreed.  In the light of our analysis in May, “Scenario 2″ has materialised: a federal government which includes the Flemish nationalist N-VA, which hopes their centre-right policies may drive the Francophone socialists to return to their historic demands for more decentralisation.

The new coalition is led by 38 year-old Charles Michel, a Francophone liberal and the son of former EU Development Aid Commissioner Louis Michel, and its centre-right programme has just been revealed. Interestingly, there are a few changes on EU policy in the country which probably is the most inclined to EU-federalism. This is clearly the result of the presence of the N-VA, a party which has described itself “euro-realist” since 2011, but is part of a broader shift whereby the […]

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