Cabinet De Croo, alias ‘Vivaldi’, with King Philippe (FPS Chancellery of the Prime Minister)
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) is calling around in Europe. He is trying to persuade colleagues to join a coalition against products from the disputed areas. The Prime Minister is under pressure from other government parties who want Belgium to boycott such products on its own. He doesn’t want that and so he tries to get other European countries on his side.
De Croo also realizes that it would have little effect if Belgium single-handedly banned products from the West Bank and Golan Heights. He said this in an election interview with the newspaper’s readers’ panel The last news. This would involve an import ban on agricultural products such as dates, olive oil and wine. Belgium is currently the fourth largest importing country of Israeli products into the EU.
De Croo may first look in the European Union, where Spain and Ireland, among others, are very critical of Israel. He previously met Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with whom he went to the Gaza border to issue a statement against Israel. It earned him a lot of criticism in Belgium and did not do the bond with Israel any good. It has been under pressure since last summer. Then Minister Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) lashed out at Israel, after which a diplomatic row arose that has still not been completely resolved.
Turkey
De Croo does not have to call Ankara, because Turkey suspended all forms of trade with Israel a few days ago. Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan says trade will resume once the war against Hamas in Gaza is over. In this way he hopes to exert pressure. De Croo especially hopes to send a signal to Israel, which appears to have started to tackle and round up the Hamas terrorists in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
“If you say in advance that it won’t work, you won’t get anywhere,” De Croo told the Flemish Radio 1 program The morning. “In this conflict, I don’t want to be the one who only has big words. We have often said the right thing, but we have often also succeeded in convincing others. In this domain, I don’t want to have to say years later: I saw what happened, I talked about the steps that should be taken, but I did not make the efforts to realize them.”
Vivaldi
In November, De Croo was faced with a plea within his government for a boycott of Israeli products from the disputed areas. It was Groen, Vooruit and CD&V that were in favor. Later, Minister Hadja Lahbib (MR) stated that sanctions only make sense if they are taken at European level, in anticipation of the Belgian presidency of the European Council that started on January 1, 2024. The pressure from his coalition parties did not decrease and that is partly why De Croo would now make his calling rounds.
Belgium is ruled by a broad middle government called Vivaldi, which stands for the piece ‘The Four Seasons’ by the composer of the same name. The Vivaldi government includes parties from the four major political families: Liberals, Greens, Social Democrats and Christian Democrats. The four regularly get in each other’s way due to a desire to profile themselves, making major decisions difficult to make. The government is divided on the Israel file. The left-wing coalition parties are the loudest in this regard and thus put pressure on De Croo, whose party is not anti-Israel.
Support resolution
The next hurdle that De Croo has to overcome is at the United Nations. There, a resolution will be voted on in the general meeting on Thursday that calls for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state. The EU’s official position is that there must first be a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians before such a state can be recognized, but several EU countries think differently. De Croo has already announced that Belgium will support the resolution. Other EU member states may join this, leaving the Union divided.
In Belgium, elections will take place on June 9, including for the federal parliament and for the parliaments in the states. In Flanders, the Flemish nationalist parties are leading in the polls. Together, Vlaams Belang and the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) can get almost half of the votes. In French-speaking Belgium, the Social Democrats of the PS appear to be becoming the largest again. This makes the formation of a federal government difficult again. A continuation of the current government may eventually emerge: ‘Vivaldi II’. But it is not popular among the population, which could cause more dissatisfaction in the long term.
