FILE PHOTO: Bart De Wever, President of Flemish nationalist party N-VA, talks to the media after casting his vote for the Belgian general and regional elections and for the European Parliament Elections in Antwerp, Belgium May 26, 2019. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Political parties in Belgium on Friday agreed to form a broad government coalition, local broadcaster VRT News reported, ending almost eight months of complicated talks that followed the election victory of Flemish nationalist party N-VA.
N-VA leader Bart De Wever, 54, is expected to become prime minister and lead a five-party coalition, which also includes Christian democrats and socialists from the Dutch-speaking north of the country as well as liberal and centrist parties from the French-speaking south.
The far-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party was excluded from the government talks, even though the anti-immigration party made the largest gains in the June 2024 election and became the country's second-largest party.
In Belgium, where federal governments are always formed through coalitions, political parties have consistently refused to include Vlaams Belang due to its anti-immigrant and anti-EU stance as well as its aim to split up the country.
Coalition talks have dragged on for months as parties struggled to agree on the budget cuts, tax hikes and pension reforms De Wever insisted on to improve the government finances of the euro zone's sixth largest economy.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer and Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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