|
Belgium's Leterme gets second chance to break political deadlock
Real estate news By AFP
Sep 30, 2007
Top Flemish politician Yves Leterme Sunday faced the tough task of forming a new coalition government after Belgium's King Albert II gave him a second chance to break a lingering political deadlock. Leterme in August failed to shepherd Belgium's main Dutch and French-speaking parties into a coalition to end a political stalemate and the monarch summoned the 46-year-old leader of the Flemish Christian Democrats late Saturday to a picturesque country chateau to give him a second chance. "The king charged Mr Yves Leterme to form a government. He accepted the mission," the Royal Palace said in a terse statement in after the meeting.
Leterme will now have to lead the tricky talks between Belgium's main Dutch and French speaking parties to form a new coalition with a government unlikely to emerge for at least several weeks. If the bilingual Leterme succeeds this time around, it would also make his Belgium's next prime minister. "If things go well, and it's a big 'if', we could have an agreement on a government in two or three weeks," commentator Fabrice Grosfilley told Belgian television RTL-TVI ahead of the Royal Palace's announcement.
With a French-speaking father and a Dutch-speaking mother, Yves Leterme has the perfect genes to bridge Belgium's linguistic divide, but in the past he has often done more to spark tensions than ease them. After his Flemish Christian Democrats came out on top in June 10 general elections, it looked almost certain that he would become Belgium's next prime minister.
Send tips or a Letter to the Editor to editor@updatere.com
|
