Belgium’s King Philippe rejected Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s resignation on 6 November 2026 and asked him to restart budget negotiations immediately. That gives the existing five-party coalition another chance to agree on a fiscal course for the next three years. De Wever is due to report back to the king on Monday, 16 November. The palace announcement gave no details of any agreed tax or spending measures.
Key facts
- De Wever offered to resign on 2 November. The king initially reserved his decision.
- After consulting the leaders of all five governing parties, Philippe rejected the resignation on 6 November.
- De Wever is due to report back on 16 November. The European Commission reviews budget plans on a separate timetable.
What did the coalition parties agree to?
The palace’s 2 November account recorded that the budget talks had failed to reach an agreement and that De Wever had offered to resign. At that audience, Philippe deferred his decision on the offer and announced consultations. On Friday, following talks with the leaders of the five governing parties, he decided to put De Wever back in charge of the budget negotiations.
According to the palace’s account of that decision, the party leaders committed to making concessions and drawing up a sound fiscal path for the next three years. Philippe asked them to safeguard social cohesion and create the conditions for economic growth. The choices that would determine which budgets change, or which taxpayers face higher charges, depend on what the coalition partners actually settle on. The palace gave no timetable for an agreement among the five parties.
Why is the EU already monitoring Belgium’s finances?
The Council of the European Union determined in July 2024 that Belgium had an excessive deficit and adopted a recommendation on correcting it in June 2025. The European Commission’s procedural record lists a Belgian report on action taken dated 30 October 2026. That report belongs to the existing deficit procedure and predates the resignation offer. The October filing and the November report to the king therefore serve different purposes: one records action under EU fiscal surveillance, the other concerns the coalition talks.
The Commission’s spring forecast, published in May, gives a sense of the size of the fiscal problem. It tracks the general government deficit as a share of economic output, which covers more than the federal budget whose direction the coalition parties are negotiating.
| Year | General government deficit as a share of GDP | Status in the Commission’s May 2026 forecast |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4.4% | Historical figure |
| 2025 | 5.2% | Historical figure |
| 2026 | 5.2% | Forecast |
| 2027 | 5.4% | Forecast |
What deadlines matter for the government?
Under the regular euro-area budget timetable, Belgium submits a draft budgetary plan for the following year to the Commission by 15 October. The Commission issues its opinion by 30 November, assessing how the plan fits the EU’s fiscal rules. Belgium also has a medium-term fiscal-structural plan that sets ceilings for net expenditure and identifies priority investments and reforms. Member states report on how they are implementing those commitments each year by 30 April.
The 16 November audience is the next point at which De Wever is due to report on the negotiations. For the budget itself, the next question is whether the concessions promised by the party leaders produce measures that can be written into a plan for the coming year and a spending path that extends beyond it.
