Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever is scheduled to meet King Philippe on Friday after offering his resignation following the collapse of national budget negotiations.
The meeting is set for 10:30 am, following the king’s decision on Monday to defer accepting the resignation of De Wever, who leads the Flemish nationalist N-VA party.
The political impasse stems from tense negotiations over Belgium’s 2027 budget and an austerity package aimed at achieving approximately 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) in savings by 2029.
Tensions within De Wever’s centre-right coalition escalated over fiscal targets for the coming year, culminating in the breakdown of talks early Monday morning.
King Philippe has spent the week holding discussions with leaders of all five coalition parties while De Wever remains in office. Under the Belgian constitution, the monarch can accept, reject, or delay a prime minister’s resignation to allow additional time for political compromise.
