Belgian premier Yves Leterme's government collapsed today after negotiations to resolve a long-simmering dispute between Dutch- and French-speaking politicians over a bilingual voting district broke down.
Dutch-speaking Liberals, one of Leterme's five coalition parties, quit the Cabinet, accusing their Francophone counterparts of blocking a deal to break up the Brussels-area district the constitutional court ruled illegal in 2003.
| That sounds like the Walloons, the bloody aristos. No really, they're the ones with the 14th century manor houses who hang out with the king at his court in Tervuren. The Flems are what used to be called peasants, and generally are the ones trying to get things done. I don't remember whether it was a Flem or a Walloon who headed the interior department when it was running the child pornography ring. |
Leterme offered King Albert the resignation of his government. The Belgian monarch has not immediately accepted it, but began consultations with key politicians on the way forward. That may take several days, parliament president Patrick Dewael told reporters.
In a statement, the royal palace called a political crisis "inopportune". It said it could harm "Belgium's role in Europe and at an international level" -- a reference to fear that the political deadlock could drag into the second half of 2010 when Belgium holds the EU's rotating presidency.
That is not an unreasonable fear. Leterme's government took office on 20 March 2008 after a political impasse over a similar and related linguistic spat that lasted a record 194 days. |