The Belgium budget crisis came to a head on Monday, Nov. 2, when Prime Minister Bart De Wever offered his government’s resignation to King Philippe after overnight talks failed to close a gap of about €10 billion in the 2027 budget. The king did not accept it right away. The royal palace said he was “postponing his decision” and would consult the leaders of the five coalition parties starting Tuesday, Euronews reported.
De Wever spent about an hour and a half at the palace. The king appealed to “the general interest and a spirit of compromise,” and De Wever is due back on Friday, Nov. 6, which Belgian broadcaster RTBF described as the final deadline to present a 2027 budget.
Why the Belgium budget crisis erupted now
De Wever, a Flemish nationalist from the N-VA, leads the so-called Arizona coalition with the French-speaking liberals of the MR, the centrist Les Engagés, the Flemish socialists of Vooruit and the Christian Democrats of CD&V. The government took office in February 2025 after 234 days of negotiations. Its partners agree the deficit must come down but split over how.
Vooruit, CD&V and Les Engagés want between €1 billion and €1.5 billion to come from higher earners and wealth, according to Politico Europe. The N-VA and especially the MR want the savings to come mainly from spending cuts. MR Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval said there were “far too many taxes on the table,” while Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot of Les Engagés said there were “too many sticking points.”
It is not the first near-collapse. In November 2025, De Wever had threatened to resign over the 2026 budget and instead won a 50-day extension that ended in a deal, Politico noted. The opposition was scathing this time. Groen lawmaker Matti Vandemaele called De Wever a “prime minister of standstill.”
The numbers behind the deadlock
Belgium’s public finances are among the weakest in the euro area. Eurostat’s latest figures show a 2025 deficit of 5.2% of gross domestic product, the sixth straight year above the EU’s 3% ceiling and the widest since 2021. Public debt reached 108.1% of output, almost double the EU reference value of 60%, according to the Eurostat database.
By a Boston Report calculation, the deficit has widened by 1.7 percentage points since 2022, the opposite of what Brussels requires of a country under the EU’s excessive deficit procedure. Belgium was placed in that procedure in 2024, which obliges it to present a credible path back toward the 3% line.
Debt has climbed for three straight years after a post-pandemic dip. Markets have noticed: Belgian bond yields have risen as the talks dragged on, Politico reported. A €10 billion gap is large for an economy of Belgium’s size, and the coalition’s choices about who carries it go straight to the core of each party’s voter base.
What happens if the king accepts
If King Philippe accepts the resignation, Belgium would likely head toward early elections, with the government running in caretaker mode in the meantime. That carries risk for the governing parties. The far-right Vlaams Belang and the far-left Workers’ Party of Belgium are both polling strongly, according to Politico. A caretaker government could only manage current affairs, and without a budget, spending would roll on in provisional monthly tranches.
The king’s choice to delay buys the coalition several days to find a deal. It also puts a royal deadline on what had been an open-ended standoff.
For readers following Europe’s geopolitical risk picture, the timing matters. Belgium hosts the EU institutions and NATO headquarters, and a prolonged crisis in Brussels would play out alongside EU debates over defense spending and fiscal rules. More world news on the coalition’s fate will follow after Friday’s meeting at the palace.
Sources
- Euronews: Belgium’s PM Bart De Wever offers resignation to king after overnight budget talks fail
- Politico Europe: Belgian government in crisis over failed budget talks
- RTBF: Crise dans le gouvernement Arizona, De Wever se rend chez le roi
- Eurostat: government deficit and debt (gov_10dd_edpt1)
Read next in World News
Most read this week
- Wu Proposes Restaurant Zoning Changes to Cut Takeout Reviews
- Elected School Committee, 311 Review on Council’s Oct. 28 Agenda
- Christopher St. Plan in Fields Corner Cut to 99 Apartments
- Wu Names Ava Callender Concepcion to Lead Boston Licensing Board
- Boston Street Lighting Upgrades Hit Record 7,202 in 2026, Nearly Triple Last Year
Latest
- Newbury Street Goes Car-Free for 8 Hours Dec. 6 as Open Newbury Holiday Stroll Returns
- Triple-Decker Tenants Could Get a Year’s Notice and Up to $15,000 Under Boston Condo-Conversion Plan
- Weil Gotshal’s Collapse Puts Its 37,379-Sq.-Ft. Back Bay Office in Limbo
- Over 1 Million Shenzhen Residents Pledge to Go Car-Free for Trump-Xi APEC Week
- China Opens First Rewrite of Its Criminal Procedure Law Since 2018 With 55-Article Draft