The pro-independence party and the CD&V will run for election on their own. The NV-A says the Christian Democrats rejected an agreement to demand devolution of certain powers.
Last May, the pro-independence party N-VA (New Flemish Alliance) did not reach the 5% of the votes required to get representation at the Belgian parliament and therefore lost its grants. The Flemish Christian-Democratic Party, CD&V, which was in government both in Flanders and in Belgium until 1999, came in third, behind the Socialists and the Liberals. Therefore, in order to reinforce each other, the N-VA leadership made a proposal to the CD&V to work together.
The N-VA membership played sensibly in view of the leadership's proposal and set four conditions to accept negotiations: to keep the N-VA as an independent party, to maintain its programme, to strengthen the party and to have the chance to materialise their ideas.
The CD&V immediately agreed with the will to negotiate demonstrated by the N-VA. They negotiated for eight weeks, beginning in July. Before that, during June, they held informal contacts in order to see whether there were possibilities to move forward.
Finally, on the 1st of September the leadership informed the party council of the results of the negotiations. The membership made it very clear: they did not agree with the results of the negotiations. The CD&V harshly criticised the N-VA. However, they apologised later.
Bart De Weber, member of the N-Va Leaderschip
"The CD&V did not fulfil our verbal agreement"
De Weber was one of was one of the leaders of the N-VA delegation at the negotiations to form a coalition.
Why did you decide to seek a coalition with another party?
We did not achieve very successful results in the elections; they were good, but not good enough. Due to the changes in election law made by the government, we did not get any representatives in the Belgian parliament. Therefore, in order to ensure we were represented in the future, we decided to go into a coalition.
Why did the N-VA council reject working together?
We are a nationalist party and we were demanding more powers for Flanders. We asked the CD&V to sign a list of minimum powers to demand, but they refused. That was a big disappointment. We accepted their programme as the basis for negotiations and all we asked them for was to specify the powers. The CD&V has nearly always been in power, but in 1999 they failed. They thought they would win the last elections and they failed again. So we wanted to make them understand they had to change, to become more radical. In addition, now the Walloon and Flemish Christian democrats are split and the CD&V is going to find it harder to find allies on a federal level.
Would you be prepared to go into coalition with another party?
In the beginning we made our offer both to the CD&V and the VLD liberals, but our aim was the CD&V. The main reason for calling the liberals was to put pressure on the CD&V. This is because they are the most nationalist of all the other parties, except for the far right-wing Vlams Blok.
Why did the negotiations fail?
Verbally, the CD&V agreed to sign the power transfer list, but later they did not want to go ahead with it. They are a large party and we are a small one. Perhaps they thought we would not put an end to the negotiations. The CD&V has shown it is not as nationalistic as it would like to say. If there are to be more negotiations, it will have to be after the elections because now there is a bad atmosphere.
Yves Leterme CD & V President
"We have tried to gain strength through joint work"
Leterme has been the leader of the CD&V since the vote in May and he headed the negotiations with the N-VA.
Why did you decide to negotiate going into coalition with the N-VA?
I believe that in order to improve the way the Belgian institutions work we have to give more power to the Flemish institutions; so that they can solve their problems. I also believe there should be greater cooperation between the forces that want further devolution.
What was the result of the meetings between the two parties?
We reached agreement on the kind of joint work we would do, but in the end the N-VA pulled out due to several specifics that did not affect the core issues.
Which was the basis for joint work?
On the one hand, we would put joint election lists forward; and, on the other hand, if we had the chance to get to the Flemish government next June, we would implement the proposals we passed in order to devolve more powers to the parliament.
What changes have there been following the elections within the CD&V? You are the new leader.
We got 21% of the vote in the general election and then we tried to gain strength by working together with the N-VA.
According to some, now you are more nationalistic than before. Do you agree?
Well, we are a Christian Democrat party. But, certainly, our institutional programme is becoming more important.
Why do you think the N-VA council did not accept joint work?
There was a lot of opposition inside the party because they have a radical nationalist attitude.
Is an independent Flanders possible?
I think it is rather impossible within the framework of the Belgian Constitution, but we can achieve more autonomy.
You are in favour of a confederation.
Yes. That means both communities want to decide jointly what we will do together in the future.
Ainara Mendiola
19.07.2004
