Coalition talks collapse hours before the Vellmark budget vote
The finance minister's resignation leaves the governing bloc without a majority, and the chamber without a spending plan.
- Finance minister Aleks Doren resigned at 21:40 local, citing irreconcilable differences over the deficit ceiling.
- The governing bloc now sits two votes short of a majority ahead of the scheduled 09:00 budget division.
- Three opposition parties have signalled they will abstain rather than force an immediate election.
Machine-generated from the reporting on this page and reviewed by an AMN editor before publication.
Coalition negotiations in Vellmark broke down late Thursday after finance minister Aleks Doren submitted his resignation, stripping the governing bloc of the narrow majority it had assembled only eleven weeks ago.
The collapse came after four hours of talks over the deficit ceiling, a provision that the smaller Reform Union had insisted be written into the budget text rather than left to a supplementary vote later in the session.
Speaking outside the chamber, Doren said he could not put his name to a spending plan that, in his words, "defers every difficult number to a parliament that may not exist next spring." He declined to say whether he would remain in the legislature.
The AMN Decision Desk now models the budget passing on abstention rather than support, with three opposition parties indicating they will not vote the government down while external financing talks remain open.
Officials familiar with the discussions said a caretaker finance appointment could be announced before the division, though the prime minister's office would not confirm a name when contacted.
The chamber convenes at 09:00 local time. AMN will carry the vote live with continuous analysis from the Decision Desk.