The Brussels-Capital Region finally has a new government, after 613 days without a fully empowered executive.
Yesterday evening, the leaders of seven parties announced they had reached a coalition agreement following a closed-door “conclave” at the University Foundation building in Brussels.
The deal brings together the French-speaking liberals of Mouvement Réformateur (MR), Socialist Party (PS) and centrists of Les Engagés, alongside the Dutch-speaking Greens, liberals of Anders, socialists of Vooruit and Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V).
Together they command a “double majority” — 46 of 72 French-speaking seats and nine of 17 Dutch-speaking seats — for a total of 55 out of 89 in the regional parliament.
Georges-Louis Bouchez, the MR president who convened the three-day marathon, emerged to declare “white smoke” and posted a photograph on social media.
“We are relieved that after more than 600 days we once again have a government in the capital of Europe,” he said.
“Although the negotiations took a long time, our agreement contains many innovations. It is also our response to the concerns of the people.”
The impasse began after the regional elections of June 9, 2024, coinciding with the European Parliament election.
No combination of parties could simultaneously satisfy the Brussels requirement for majorities in both linguistic groups while bridging deep ideological and budgetary divides.
Three previous attempts at precisely this seven-party formula collapsed — in summer 2024, spring 2025 and again last summer.
Full programme details remain under wraps until party conferences ratify the text but several pillars have already emerged.
First and foremost is the goal of a balanced budget by 2029, which. would be seen as quite a feat as the region has a deficit of more than €1 billion on a budget of almost €8 billion.
Most of the money would come from savings, while 20 per cent would come from “optimalising revenue”.
The controversial mobility plan, Good Move, and the low-emission zone will be renamed and amended. This would lead to new policies but “under the same principles”.
There will also be targeted security measures at Brussels train stations, with €10 million each year for the security in Brussels Midi and Brussels North.
A regional drug commissioner will be appointed to fight the growing drug problem.
Citizens will also get a 1 per cent tax cut on their personal income tax, while procedures to build houses will be simplified.
The incoming Brussels coalition has also committed to reviving the long-stalled NEO project on the Heizel plateau, aiming to breathe new life into one of the capital’s most ambitious — and divisive — urban redevelopment initiatives.
They also want to activate the unemployed and improve the labour market.
For more than 600 days, the region lurched along in caretaker mode under outgoing Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS), as caretaker ministers continued to draw full salaries. Credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s kept the region on a negative outlook despite an emergency €1 billion borrowing facility.
In June 2025, the Brussels-Capital Region even appealed to top European Union officials for emergency funding for the Schuman Square project as it struggled to foot the bills, That project aimed to transform the major EU district traffic hub into a pedestrian-friendly, “green” and circular plaza.
This funding bid led to friction with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), whose party was deliberately excluded. He called the request “rock bottom”, saying they made a fool of themselves by indicating that Brussels was a “failed state”.
He said he was willing to play the role of the IMF for Brussels but that he would demand specific policy changes on budget cuts and security.
In late 2025, Brussels budget minister Dirk De Smedt had warned that shutdowns were looming and that new investments were impossible without a new government.
According to Belgian media, an agreement was suddenly found between liberals and socialists, the main protagonists, when what many saw as creative accounting showed a lower deficit, removing the need to find €250 million and making a balanced budget a more feasible task.
A final negotiation, where politicians were only allowed to leave when an agreement was reached, sealed the deal.
N-VA representative Mathias Vanden Borre, whose party was kept away from power on command of the PS, told Brussels Signal he will call the new grouping the “Friday the 13th coalition”, doomed from the start.
“They cobbled together an agreement in just three days with seven parties, but given the challenges, it’s utterly implausible,” he said.
“The budget is a disaster, and their claim that these parties will bring balance? Who could possibly believe that? These are the very same parties that pushed Brussels to the brink of bankruptcy,” he stressed.
“After more than 600 days of decay, the PS has pulled off its coup: A side-lining of the Flemish community and the dismantling of communal balance in our capital. The Flemish parties swallowing this are reduced to bit-part players in a shoddy farce.”
Vlaams Belang party representative Bob De Brabandere similarly told Brussels Signal that the short and sudden time span in which the new majority found an agreement was questionable, pointing out that the city simply “ran out of money”.
“The socialists got what they wanted from the others, they got money for their expensive policies,” he said. This included taking in €1.2 billion of debt with public water company, Vivaqua, held outside the budget.
“The government has not yet been sworn in, and the accounting tricks have already begun,” De Brabandere said.
He also said the security promises were insufficient for the city and warned that it would continue to block the federal migration policies.
“We witnessed a three-day charade of negotiations after over 600 days of deadlock. A charade directed by just one duo: the PS and MR,” he said.
“A charade where the other parties settle for bit parts but try to sell their cameos to their supporters as starring roles. Vlaams Belang won’t play along.”
Belgian State-owned bank Belfius has said it no longer wants to work with the Brussels Capital Region, citing the region’s budget problems. https://t.co/3Z6Ac4J9gU
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 21, 2025
