Table Stakes - November 2nd

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I’m Atlas, and welcome to Table Stakes!

Here’s a look at today’s topics:

• Belgian P.M. De Wever Offers His Gov’s Resignation After Budget Talks Collapse

• Iotova Takes Bulgaria’s Presidency By 18 Points, The First Woman Elected To The Office

• Former Dem. Senate Candidate Stevens Endorses Rep. Rogers In Michigan Sen. Race Two Days Before Vote

Belgian Prime Minister De Wever Offers His Government’s Resignation After Budget Talks Collapse

_{By: Atlas}

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever went to the royal palace in Brussels at about 9:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. CST) Monday and offered King Philippe the resignation of his five-party government. The visit came hours after a weekend of budget talks broke down without a deal.

The king interrupted his holiday to receive him. After the meeting, De Wever left without speaking to the reporters waiting at the palace gates.

King Philippe is holding his decision on the resignation under consideration, the palace said. In its statement, the palace said the king regretted that no agreement had been reached on a credible budget and that the country could not afford a prolonged political crisis. He called on all the parties involved to put “the general interest and a willingness to compromise” first, in our translation of the French.

A weekend that ended without a deal

De Wever called his deputy prime ministers together at about 9 p.m. (2 p.m. CST) Sunday for what was meant to be a final push. The coalition has spent two months looking for about €10 billion in savings through 2029, an effort meant to curb the country’s debt burden.

By about 1:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. CST Sunday), a breakthrough was out of reach. De Wever left the prime minister’s office on the Rue de la Loi at about 2:30 a.m. (7:30 p.m. CST Sunday) without speaking to the press.

Late in the talks he made what the financial daily De Tijd described as a “best and final offer.” The socialists said nothing had changed in the imbalance of the plan.

He also put forward his so-called debt brake, a freeze of about €4 billion in federal government spending in 2027, meant as an emergency alternative to running next year on a stopgap budget. The other coalition parties had already signaled in mid-October that they opposed so large a freeze, and it was rejected again.

According to De Morgen, De Wever’s plan combined about €4 billion in savings and reforms with €1.5 billion in new revenue, plus technical corrections and catch-up measures. Some at the table wanted to scale the overall effort back to €8 billion, the paper reported, and De Wever refused.

Two camps, one gap

The dispute comes down to who pays. Vooruit, the Flemish socialists, along with the centrist Les Engagés and the Flemish Christian Democrats of CD&V, want people with the highest incomes and largest fortunes to contribute more through taxes. De Wever’s N-VA and the Francophone liberal MR want the savings to come mainly from health care spending and benefits for people on long-term sick leave. Each camp considers the other’s route unacceptable, the Dutch daily NRC reported.

MR Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval, leaving the talks, pointed to Vooruit as the party that blocked a deal. “I said there were too many taxes,” he said, according to De Morgen. Another source quoted by De Morgen said the overnight dispute was “certainly not only with Vooruit.”

Vooruit said it still wanted an agreement, one with “a clear and concrete contribution from large fortunes.” Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot of Les Engagés told Belgian media that listing all the sticking points “would take an eternity.”

On Monday morning, CD&V urged the coalition not to give up. “Let reasonableness prevail over electoral muscle-flexing,” the party said.

What the king can do

Under Belgian practice, the king has three options. He can accept the resignation, which would bring the government down and leave it in place in a caretaker role. He can refuse it and send the prime minister back to the table. Or he can hold it under consideration, as he did Monday, which keeps the government in office while the parties keep talking.

Even an accepted resignation would not mean an automatic election. The fall of a government in Belgium does not dissolve parliament on its own, and a new majority could in principle be formed in the current chamber. If parliament were dissolved, an election would have to follow within 40 days. The next regular federal election is due in 2029.

A familiar standoff

The coalition, known as “Arizona,” took office in February 2025 after a long formation. It faced a nearly identical deadlock a year ago, when it also struggled to find about €10 billion. In early November 2025, De Wever went to the king but did not resign. He asked for more time and was given 50 days. The parties reached a €9.2 billion deal on Nov. 24.

This time, De Wever offered to resign.

The money at stake

Belgium ran a deficit of 5.2% of GDP in 2025, and it is expected to rise next year, according to Politico Europe. European rules set a ceiling of 3%. Belgian borrowing rates have been climbing for weeks.

In early October, the National Bank and the Federal Debt Agency warned the government that Belgium faces an interest snowball, in which rising debt-service costs compound. They said it could set in by 2029 and possibly as early as 2028.

If no full budget passes by year-end, the government would fall back on so-called provisional twelfths, a stopgap that lets it spend each month roughly one-twelfth of the last approved budget. De Wever has said he wants to avoid that. Tuesday had been the informal deadline for a deal that would leave parliament enough time to pass a 2027 budget before Dec. 31.

Starting Tuesday, King Philippe will consult the presidents of the coalition parties, and he will receive De Wever again at the palace on Friday, Nov. 6. Until he decides, De Wever’s government remains in office.

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