Belgian government falls as language groups feud - Summary

Brussels - Belgium's government fell on Monday as all attempts to end a feud over majority and minority language rights ended in acrimony, throwing the country and, potentially, the European Union into confusion.

The collapse comes as Dutch- and French-speakers wrangle over the division of the Brussels electoral district, and two months before Belgium takes over the EU's rotating presidency for six months.

Belgium's head of state, King Albert II, "received in audience this afternoon Prime Minister Yves Leterme. The king accepted the resignation of the government which the prime minister offered on Thursday," a brief statement from the palace said.

The king tasked the fallen government with continuing caretaker duties, the statement said.

"I regret that the dialogue needed to reach a negotiated settlement did not lead to the hoped-for result...The government will continue to ensure the efficient conduct of current business in the interest of the country and its citizens," Leterme said in a bilingual declaration posted on his website.

The political collapse came after talks hit deadlock between the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) majority and francophone minority over the division of the Brussels-Hal-Vilvoorde electoral district, the only bilingual constituency in the country.

The constitutional court ruled in 2003 that the so-called BHV district would have to be divided.

Since then, however, politicians have repeatedly gridlocked as they tried to answer the Flemish demand to make parts of the district monolingual while responding to the French-speaking demand to allow voters throughout the region to support French-speaking parties.

The row has brought Belgium to the brink of political chaos on several occasions, hamstringing the government for much of the time since the last national elections in June 2007.

Last week, former premier Jean-Luc Dehaene, known as the "minesweeper" for his ability to broker deals, presented a complex series of proposals designed to solve the BHV problem.

But the five parties of Belgium's ruling coalition - two Flemish, three French-speaking - failed to agree on the proposals. On Thursday, Leterme, a Dutch-speaker, offered to quit.

Instead, the king on Saturday tasked Finance Minister Didier Reynders, a French-speaker, with brokering a deal. But Reynders quit on Monday afternoon after barely more than 48 hours in the job, leaving the king little option but to accept the government's fall.

"Is it possible to look for a negotiated solution with the same partners? I don't think so," said Reynders, according to the Belga news agency.

Leterme was equally glum, commenting, "At the end of the work carried out by mediator Didier Reynders, it became clear that it was impossible to reach a deal on the basis of (Dehaene's) work."

It is not yet clear whether the king will task another politician with trying to form a government, or call for fresh elections.

French-speaking politicians were quick to speak out against the latter option, with the head of the francophone conservatives, Joelle Milquet, and the socialists, Elio Di Rupo, both opposing such a move.

But Flemish liberal leader Alexander De Croo, whose party triggered the collapse by quitting the government on Thursday, said that it was time to "let the citizens have their say," Belga wrote.

Either way, the fall comes at a highly embarrassing time for Belgium. The country is set to take over the EU presidency on July 1.

"From now on, we have to do all we can to stop making ourselves look ridiculous in the eyes of Belgium, Europe and the world," the French-speaking Green opposition party, Ecolo, said bitterly.

Since January, the EU has had a permanent president - himself a Belgian, Herman Van Rompuy - and a foreign-policy director, but the presidency nation is expected to take the lead on other major dossiers such as home affairs, agriculture and fisheries.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/320681,belgian-government-falls-as-language-groups-feud--summary.html.