Belgian Prime Minister Offers Resignation After Coalition Fails to Close €10 Billion Budget Gap

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever offered his resignation to King Philippe on the morning of November 2 after his five-party coalition failed to reach agreement on the 2027 federal budget. The Royal Palace said the king is postponing a decision and will begin consultations with coalition party leaders on November 3 before receiving De Wever again on November 6.

The palace statement noted the large geopolitical uncertainty and severe economic challenges facing the country and said Belgium cannot afford a prolonged political crisis. It appealed to all parties to prioritize the general interest and a spirit of compromise. De Wever’s government has been trying for months to close a gap of roughly €10 billion in spending cuts and revenue measures needed to stabilize public finances.

Belgium recorded a deficit of 5.2 percent of GDP in 2025. The figure is projected to rise further without adjustment. The country ranks among the more heavily indebted members of the European Union alongside France and Italy. De Wever, a Flemish nationalist who took office in February 2025, has pushed for deeper spending reductions, including in healthcare. Socialist and centrist partners in the coalition have insisted on higher wealth taxes instead.

Overnight talks among senior ministers ended without a deal in the early hours of November 2. De Wever then met the king for about 90 minutes and submitted his resignation. He had previously ruled out beginning the new year under a provisional budget that would simply carry forward the previous year’s figures. The king granted him an extra 50 days earlier in the process; that window has now closed without agreement.

If the king ultimately accepts the resignation, he can ask other parties to attempt a new coalition or dissolve parliament and call elections. Polls currently show both the far-right Vlaams Belang and the far-left Workers’ Party performing strongly, raising the possibility that any new government would face similar or greater fragmentation. The five-party arrangement already spans a wide ideological range from right to left, which has made compromise on fiscal measures difficult.

De Wever heads the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA). His liberal partners in the MR have largely supported the preference for spending restraint. The remaining coalition members have resisted cuts of the scale proposed. The absence of a budget agreement leaves open the question of how Belgium will meet EU fiscal rules and finance ongoing commitments while the geopolitical environment remains uncertain.

The king’s decision to delay acceptance keeps the current government in place for the immediate consultations. Those meetings begin on November 3. The outcome will determine whether De Wever continues as prime minister with a revised fiscal package or whether Belgium enters a period of caretaker government or early elections. Public debt dynamics and the need for a credible medium-term path remain the central numbers in the dispute.