Why Belgium Cannot Form a Government and Keeps Going Anyway
June 27, 2026 · Frisian News
Belgium's caretaker government has run for over 18 months without a properly formed cabinet. Political divisions between Flemish and Walloon blocs make coalition negotiations repeatedly collapse.
Belgium's caretaker government now runs without a properly formed cabinet for over 18 months. The Flemish and Walloon blocs cannot agree on budget priorities, immigration policy, or pensions. Talks have collapsed repeatedly, with some parties demanding higher corporate taxes while others reject any new levies. The country has no candidate with enough support to form a coalition.
Belgium formed its last government only after 18 months of negotiation in 2020. Before that, the country ran on a caretaker basis for nearly two years. The pattern repeats because the system itself makes majority coalitions difficult. With 150 parliamentary seats divided among a dozen significant parties and a hard split between Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia, no single group can govern alone.
Yet the country does not collapse. Trains run. Schools open. Hospitals treat patients. Why? Because Belgium's civil service is vast and can function on autopilot. EU law handles much of what used to require national legislation. And crucially, the banking sector and large corporations have no interest in real instability. A dysfunctional government that cannot raise taxes or regulate strongly suits many powerful interests.
The real brake on reform is political inertia. Flemish nationalism would shatter any solution that redistributes power from north to south. Walloon socialists would collapse any government that cuts pensions or privatizes services. So Belgium limps forward in caretaker mode where ministers cannot initiate new policy but can prevent anyone else from doing so. It is the equilibrium of exhaustion.
The question is not whether Belgium will eventually form a government. It will. The question is whether Belgians will ever ask why they tolerate a system where nothing can change until every faction deadlocks simultaneously. That would require a kind of political courage that Brussels has learned to live without.
Published June 27, 2026 · Frisian News