The King has accepted Charles Michel’s resignation

The Belgian king has officially accepted Charles Michel’s resignation.

King Philippe has made a decision. After Charles Michel sent in his resignation on Tuesday, King Philippe consulted the Belgian political stakeholders for a couple of days.

He has then decided to accept the fact that Charles Michel won’t be able to conduct the chosen Belgian policies in the upcoming months, while putting Belgium in a particular situation: ‘affaires courantes’. It means that both the government and the Parliament should collaborate in order to deal with the traditional institutional issues and to “provide an adequate response to the economic, fiscal and international challenges”.

There will however not be any major political decisions over the upcoming months, until a new government takes office after the next General elections (May 2019).

King Philippe has also asked the government and the Parliament to regularly inform him about the “state of play of the tasks in the framework of the ‘affaires courantes’”.

There will not be any early election, although the N-VA pushed for that over the last few days.

It is therefore up to the Belgian institutions to work in a smart way to solve the current problems. The MR, the CD&V and Open Vld, which are part of the resigning government, have shared their aim to focus on several issues: purchasing power, climate, and the consequences of the Brexit.

This news is not meaningless in the current political environment. Belgium has experienced several demonstrations, such as the ‘March for the climate’ and the ‘Gilets Jaunes’. The institutions will then definitely deal with a sensitive social situation.

Let’s wait and see.