Five parties are expected to take a seat in Belgium's next government, as formal coalition negotiations can now begin under the leadership of Bart De Wever, party leader of the conservative Flemish separatist party NVA.
The cross-block cooperation also includes Flemish social democrats, French-speaking liberals, and Christian democrats from both regions.
The new cooperation is called the Arizona coalition, because the parties' colors are all included in the US state's flag: yellow, red, blue, and orange.
In the same way, an earlier government was called "the Swedish" due to the then-ruling parties' blue and yellow colors. The outgoing government – with liberals, social democrats, Christian democrats, and Green party members – has in turn lived under the collective name Vivaldi, as their ideologies and party colors have been described as different as the four seasons.
