2010–2011 Belgian government formation
The Flemish-Nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the largest party in Flanders and the country as a whole, controlled 27 of 150 seats in the lower chamber.
On 1 June 2011, Belgium matched the record for time taken to form a new democratic government after an election, at 353 days, held until then by Cambodia in 2003–2004.
[10] De Wever reported back to the king on 8 July 2010, suggesting that there was "not enough agreement on key issues" for a coalition to work and was therefore relieved of his duty as informateur.
The N-VA and the CD&V accused the Walloon parties of moving too slowly in negotiations, as well as being too vague and too reserved in the details on the concessions they were willing to make.
On 29 August 2010, Di Rupo met with King Albert and submitted his resignation as pre-formateur, releasing a statement to the press suggesting that the N-VA and the CD&V were unwilling to continue negotiations.
The king, however, refused to accept the resignation, asking Di Rupo to continue as pre-formateur in an attempt to reach one final agreement.
The parties involved were able to reach an agreement on how much control each region would have on income and spending, but were stuck on the issues of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde and funding for Brussels.
The N-VA suggested that the PS and the other Walloon parties were merely unwilling to part with the "pocket money federalism", which refers to the distribution of financial means in Belgium where the regional governments are not accountable for their earnings or spendings.
[23] He placed blame for the failure of the talks on the Walloon parties, saying "We received no answers to the vital questions being asked by Flemings".
"What is on the table is a fundamental reform of Belgium and at the last moment Bart De Wever, with tears in his eyes, says 'no, sorry, but this is not enough'”[25] The next day, the king dismissed Pieters and Flahaut as mediators.
On 21 October 2010, the King asked Johan Vande Lanotte, a former president of Flemish social-democratic party SP.a, to be a mediator to resume government formation talks soon.
[33] On 6 January 2011, Vande Lanotte submitted his resignation to the king, requesting to be relieved of his position as mediator as he claimed there was a lack of political will to reach an agreement.
[33] The King however assigned De Wever and Di Rupo to work in close cooperation with Vande Lanotte to reach an agreement that both the N-VA and the PS could support.
[36] CD&V leader Wouter Beke was appointed negotiator (onderhandelaar) on 2 March 2011 by the king to try to find an agreement on state reform.
[43] On 20 July 2011, CD&V accepted certain conditions set by Di Rupo regarding the BHV issue, signaling a breakthrough in coalition negotiations.
[45] Amid news that caretaker PM Leterme would become deputy secretary-general of the OECD in 2012, coalition talks failed yet again on 14 September 2011, with an emergency meeting set for the same day.
[2] It also ended what was believed to be the longest period in which a country has been without an elected government, at 589 days; Leterme had been serving as caretaker prime minister since his resignation on 26 April 2010.
[53] Belgian minister for Climate and Energy, Paul Magnette, also suggested incorporating Wallonia into Germany instead of France if the crisis in Belgium were to escalate.
