Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever tenders resignation after failure to reach budget deal

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever submitted his resignation to King Philippe on the morning of 2 November after the governing coalition failed to reach agreement on the budget.

The coalition's inner cabinet ended an overnight meeting without a deal. The talks centred on savings of around 10 billion euros needed to reduce the budget deficit by 2029. De Wever then concluded that an agreement was not possible for now. King Philippe received him at the Royal Palace at 09:30 local time.

The federal government is made up of five parties: the Flemish nationalist N-VA, the Flemish socialists Vooruit, the Flemish Christian Democrats CD&V, the French-speaking liberals MR and the French-speaking centrists Les Engagés. Vooruit, CD&V and Les Engagés want the wealthiest to contribute more to the budget, while N-VA and MR hold the opposite position.

Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval of MR opposed "too much taxation". Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot of Les Engagés said that listing all the points of contention would take "an eternity".

Under Belgian rules, the King may accept the Prime Minister's resignation, reject it or defer his decision. Last year the country's budget deficit reached 5 percent, against the 3 percent limit set by European Union rules, while public debt exceeded 735 billion euros, more than 110 percent of gross domestic product. Interest rates on government bonds have risen amid the lack of an agreement.

A year earlier, in November 2025, the government also struggled to find 10 billion euros in savings. At that time De Wever did not resign, but asked the King for more time and was granted a 50-day extension. On 24 November 2025, the parties agreed on savings of 9.2 billion euros.

De Wever has said he intends to avoid a provisional budget regime under which spending next year would run each month on one twelfth of the current year's revenue and expenditure.