On Monday, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said it was high time to overhaul the complex political system that has left the capital, Brussels, without a functional government for more than 600 days.

Speaking to a local broadcaster, the ‘weak’ Prime Minister stated that the record deadlock in the Brussels-Capital Region—the area encompassing the city—was damaging the country’s reputation.

De Wever told the RTBF radio station:

Wherever I go in the world, in Europe, everyone asks me about it and says: ’What the hell is this mess?’ … Institutional reform is needed; that much is clear.

As the smallest of Belgium’s three regions and home to 1.2 million people, the Brussels-Capital Region has been mired in a political and financial crisis since the elections in June 2024. The vote produced no outright winner, and political parties have since been unable to strike a coalition deal.

To be sworn in, a government must hold a majority in both of the local parliament’s linguistic groups, each of which consists of different parties. This requirement is proving particularly difficult to meet.