Following the 2024 Belgian federal and regional elections, Government formation talks began on 10 June. Incumbent Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced his resignation and his party's leader Tom Ongena declared that Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats would not be a part of the next federal government.
Bart De Wever was sworn in as prime minister on 3 February 2025.
Overview Government Outgoing coalition Next coalition Sworn in (days after election) Federal GovernmentDe CrooFlemish side CD&V Open Vld Vooruit GroenFrancophone side PS MR EcoloDe WeverFlemish side N-VA Vooruit CD&VFrancophone side MR LE 3 February 2025 () Flemish Government Jambon N-VA CD&V Open Vld Diependaele N-VA Vooruit CD&V 30 September 2024 () French Community Government Jeholet PS Ecolo MR Degryse MR LE 16 July 2024 () Walloon Government Di Rupo III PS Ecolo MR Dolimont MR LE 15 July 2024 () Brussels Government Vervoort III Flemish side Groen Open Vld Vooruit Francophone side PS Ecolo DéFI Dilliès Flemish side Groen Anders Vooruit CD&V Francophone side MR PS LE 14 February 2026 () German-speaking Community Govt. Paasch II ProDG PFF PS Paasch III ProDG CSP PFF 1 July 2024 ()
Federal government
According to political analysts, the most obvious federal coalition would consist of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance, Reformist Movement, and centre-left Vooruit, with the centrist Christian Democratic and Flemish and Les Engagés parties to reach at least 76 seats. Other coalitions are ruled out, following the decision of Open Vld, Groen and the Socialist Party to be part of the opposition. Vlaams Belang is not expected to be part of the government at any level, due to the cordon sanitaire.
On 12 June, after consulting with party presidents, King Philippe named N-VA leader Bart De Wever as informateur. He had to submit a report by 19 June. After said report was submitted, his mission as informateur was extended by another week until 26 June.
On 15 June, Melissa Depraetere, leader of Vooruit, declared that she did not wish Georges-Louis Bouchez, leader of MR, to be in the future government, citing his "disloyal" attitude towards the De Croo Government and his lack of proficiency in Dutch as factors that would harm a future coalition. She also declared that she desired to push a social design onto a future coalition that she notes is emerging to be on the right, which, in her eyes, will make negotiation very difficult.
On 21 June, Bart De Wever announced that he sees the only logical government formation to be the so-called "" (N-VA - MR - LE - Vooruit - CD&V), which combines the respective parties negotiating in Flanders and Wallonia for the respective regional governments. The name derives from the colors of the respective parties all appearing on the flag of that US state. According to De Wever, any other attempt at government formation would lead to a period of endless negotiations. He specifies that the Arizona formation would allow for relative coherence on a socio-economic level, but that it would make any prospect of institutional reform more difficult to negotiate.
On 26 June, De Wever submitted his second report to the King as informateur, subsequently he was relieved of informateur duties and was appointed as preformateur. The choice to appoint a preformateur was analysed by political commentators as confirmation of an incoming Arizona coalition government, but simultaneously an admission that the differences between the parties needed to form government are still too vast for quick and easy negotiations and that a government is not imminent.
On 10 July, the king officially appointed De Wever as formateur, giving him the ability to start formal talks to assemble a government, and likely becoming prime minister of the resulting government. The government was expected to consist of the Arizona coalition, including the N-VA, CD&V, and Vooruit on the Flemish side, and MR and Les Engagés on the Francophone side. His assignment was extended on 24 July and 19 August.
On 22 August, De Wever returned his assignment to the king, having failed to produce a deal agreed by all parties. The next day, the king would assign Les Engagés leader Maxime Prévot as the mediator in the second round of negotiations.
On 1 September, King Philippe again appointed Bart De Wever as the mediator in the coalition negotiations.
On 5 September, De Wever summoned the five Arizona parties for the first time to make working agreements on the further course of the negotiations. It was agreed that the five Arizona parties would not vote on bills that had a budgetary impact after the start of the parliamentary year. It was also decided that the thematic working groups on the various policy themes launched earlier would resume their work from Monday 9 September. The central negotiators met weekly from 13 September to review the progress in the working groups.
On 23 September, De Wever's assignment as formateur was extended until 17 October.LIVE FORMATIE. Kinderbijslag opnieuw geïndexeerd, maar dienstencheques duurder: dit weten we al over plannen nieuwe Vlaamse regering, Het Laatste Nieuws, 23 September 2024. After the local elections on Sunday 13 October, in which the five Arizona parties emerged stronger, the formateur invited the federal chief negotiators on 16 October to determine the working method and agenda for the negotiations on the major sticking points that still needed to be addressed, in particular the substantial savings of 28 billion euros and the socio-economic reforms that had previously failed to negotiate.Onderhandelaars federale formatie steken vandaag voor het eerst sinds lokale verkiezingen de koppen bijeen, Het Laatste Nieuws, 16 October 2024. It was decided that the sherpas, the technical advisors, of the parties would formulate comments on a new socio-economic supernote that the formateur delivered to the five parties on 8 October.LIVE. Koning verlengt opdracht van formateur Bart De Wever (N-VA) en vraagt te landen “binnen redelijke termijn”, Het Nieuwsblad, 16 October 2024. A day later, De Wever's assignment as formateur was extended again by the king, this time until 4 November, with the message to conclude the negotiations within a reasonable period of time.
During a new joint meeting of the central negotiators on 24 October, it was agreed that De Wever would draw up a new supernote, after the various parties had requested a considerable number of adjustments. The intention was that the negotiators would further deal with the remaining sticking points of the other policy themes during the autumn break the following week, but Vooruit announced in a statement later that day that it wanted to wait until the formateur had presented his new supernote with accompanying budgetary tables. According to the party, there was little point in concluding partial agreements on the other themes without a budgetary framework.Vooruit trekt streep door huidige nota van De Wever (N-VA): “Het zit al maanden vast. Daarom vragen we een nieuw voorstel”, Het Laatste Nieuws, 25 October 2024. The other parties regretted Vooruit's move and called for negotiations to be resumed as soon as possible. On 29 October, Bart De Wever presented his revised supernote to the party chairmen of Vooruit, MR, CD&V and Les Engagés separately, after which the technicians of the parties considered the note a day later. On 31 October, a joint meeting of the negotiators of the five parties followed to discuss the note. However, no progress was made again: four of the five parties were prepared to continue negotiations on the basis of this note, but Vooruit still found it too unbalanced, particularly with regard to tackling the budget.Formateur De Wever “beraadt zich over volgende stappen” nadat Arizona-onderhandelaars uiteengaan zonder vooruitgang Formateur De Wever “beraadt zich over volgende stappen” nadat Arizona-onderhandelaars uiteengaan zonder vooruitgang, Het Nieuwsblad, 31 October 2024.
In an attempt to straighten things out, De Wever held bilateral consultations with the chairmen of the Arizona parties on Sunday 3 November. The next morning, a joint meeting with the five chairmen followed, before the formateur had to go to the King to report on his assignment. However, this was not enough to break the impasse, after which De Wever offered his resignation as formateur at the Palace. King Philippe, however, kept the resignation under consideration and gave De Wever until 12 November to hold further consultations with the Arizona parties, so that the parties could come closer together again to resume government negotiations.LIVE Federale formatie - Bart De Wever (N-VA) dient ontslag in als formateur maar koning geeft hem extra tijd voor overleg, VRT NWS, 4 November 2024.
On 31 January 2025, a governmental agreement was reached between the Arizona parties, with De Wever sworn in as prime minister on 3 February 2025.
Possible coalitions Sorted descending by number of total seats: +CoalitionCoalition partiesTotal number of seatsFlemish seatsFrancophone seatsPitfallsFlemishFrancophoneVivaldi incl. LE Vooruit + CD&V + Open Vld + Groen MR + PS + LE + EcoloExtension of the outgoing coalition strengthened by LE. Broad coalition which is a minority on Flemish side. Open Vld and PS both decided to remain in opposition. PS needed for majority.Arizona excl. PS & Open Vld N-VA + Vooruit + CD&V MR + LEVast political differences in opinion between largest (N-VA) and second largest (Vooruit) Flemish parties. Vooruit president Melissa Depraetere has stated that her party may refuse to be part of a government including MR president George-Louis Bouchez, citing issues with his "disloyalty" to the incumbent Vivaldi government.
Flemish government The 2024 regional election saw the decline of Open Vld, Groen, CD&V, and N-VA, with an increase of votes for Vooruit, PVDA and VB. The incumbent government lost its majority, with only 56 out of 124 seats. Alongside the decisions of Open Vld and Groen to remain in opposition, this means the only possible majority government formation without breaking the cordon sanitaire with VB is a tripartite coalition featuring N-VA, Vooruit, and CD&V, which would have a majority at 65 out of 124 seats.
On 14 June, following talks with Sammy Mahdi of CD&V and Melissa Depraetere of Vooruit, Bart De Wever announced that he would draft a preliminary memorandum before negotiations began between the three parties.
On 19 June, Matthias Diependaele of N-VA was called upon to form government on the regional level, with Vooruit and CD&V announcing they are ready to begin negotiations. He will be assisted in the formation proceedings by Zuhal Demir, Ben Weyts, and Annick De Ridder. Several months later, on 28 September 2024, the three parties announced to have come to an agreement to form a new Flemish Government: the Diependaele Government.
Walloon government The regional election saw a victory for the right-leaning bloc of MR and Les Engagés, to the detriment of the PS, Ecolo, and PTB. While the incumbent government's so-called "rainbow coalition" is still mathematically possible, with its majority being held at 50 out of 75 seats, it has been deemed impossible due to PS's decision to remain in opposition. On 11 June, two days after the election, Maxime Prévot and Georges-Louis Bouchez announced their intent to launch negotiations to form a two-party majority government of MR and LE, with 43 out of 75 seats.
On 18 June, consultations began with different organisations, beginning with employers' organisations including VOKA, representing Flemish employers, followed by talks with the unions.