New centre left-wing coalition governments in Wallonia and Brussels

In June 2009, the Belgian regions and communities held elections, following which two new centre left-wing coalition governments were formed in Wallonia and Brussels. The elections were held in a particular context marked by the economic crisis and an increasing deficit, environmental issues and tensions between the two main linguistic communities. Expectations for the new governments and their plans to tackle the crisis situation are extremely high.

On 7 June 2009, in parallel with the European Parliament elections, regional and community elections were held to elect new government representatives within the three regional entities of Belgium – Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia – and in the three linguistic communities – the Flemish, French-speaking and German-speaking communities. Following the elections, new governments were formed in Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia at the beginning of July 2009. The elections were held in the context of the economic crisis which led the voters to have high expectations for the new governments. The election results showed marked differences between the south and the north of the country.

Outcome of elections

While the northern region of Flanders has a new centre right-wing government (BE0906039I), elections in the southern region of Wallonia as well as in the Brussels-Capital region led to the establishment of centre left-wing governments in both regions. In Brussels and Wallonia, the green party Ecolo – the environmentalist party in Belgium’s French and German-speaking communities – almost doubled the number of its votes, receiving nearly 20% of all votes cast in the election. This election result opened the doors to the government for the former opposition party. In Wallonia, the Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS) remained the most important political party in the region obtaining 33% of the votes, while the position of the liberal right-wing Reform Party (Mouvement réformateur, MR) and the centre left-wing Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre démocrate humaniste, CDH) remained unchanged with respectively 23% and 16% of all votes cast in the election. The results being similar in Brussels and Wallonia, the three left-wing parties – Ecolo, PS and CDH – entered a coalition to form a government in these two regions.

Social partners urge governments to act

In the context of the economic crisis, the social partners insisted, as soon as the results of the elections were known, on the urgent necessity to form governments and to take concrete measures to alleviate the effects of the crisis on employers and workers.

The country’s three main trade union organisations insisted on the need to further develop public agencies helping companies in difficulties through public investments. The call was made by the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens/Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond, CSC/ACV), the Federation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (Centrale Générale des Syndicats Libéraux de Belgique/Algemene Centrale der Liberale Vakbonden van België, CGSLB/ACLVB) and the Belgian General Federation of Labour (Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique/Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, FGTB/ABVV).

The employers, represented by the Belgian Federation of Employers (Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique/Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen, FEB/VBO) and the Union of Walloon Enterprises (Union wallonne des Entreprises, UWE), also insisted on the emergency situation and the importance of maintaining social peace.

Measures to boost employment

By mid July, the three parties – Ecolo, PS and CDH – reached a coalition agreement and established two new governments in the Brussels-Capital and Walloon regions.

In Wallonia, but also in Brussels since the objectives are similar, the main focus of the government plan is on employment and environmental issues. The government seeks to boost the economy by developing the ‘green’ sector. In this regard, it wishes to encourage energy efficiency within private and public buildings through new public incentives for the insulation of buildings and green construction methods. In doing so, the government also hopes to boost employment in these activities.

Among the measures put forward in the government plan, another important point concerns employment. The government wishes to better match companies’ needs with employees’ qualifications by improving initial schooling and vocational training programmes. To this aim, the government encourages greater cooperation between schools, training centres and the social partners.

Commentary

Political parties in power developed ambitious government plans in terms of employment. The social partners wish to contribute to these new developments in order to tackle the negative effects of the economic crisis. Moreover, they insist on the necessity for future governments to take rapid and concrete measures to combat the economic crisis.

Emmanuelle Perin, Institute for Labour Studies (IST), Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)