Belgium's chances of surviving as a single country suffered a significant blow on Saturday night when the man tipped to be the next prime minister abandoned almost six months of bad-tempered wrangling over a new government and threw in the towel.
Yves Leterme, the Flemish Christian Democrat leader who emerged strongest from general elections in June, went to the royal palace in Brussels to tell King Albert he had had enough.
The king accepted Leterme's resignation, but left open the key question of what happens next in the effort to secure a consensus between the country's Dutch-speaking Flemish and francophone Walloon communities.
Leterme's resignation marked a watershed in the long-running crisis and shortened the odds on Belgium eventually splintering into two new countries at the heart of Europe -- the bigger, more prosperous northern region of Flanders, where the push for more autonomy is fueling separatism, and the southern, less successful and region of Wallonia, which is keen to preserve Belgium.
Since Leterme's electoral victory, there have been endless talks involving four parties of Flemish and Walloon Christian Democrats and Liberals.
Leterme issued an ultimatum on Friday, demanding answers to three questions from his putative coalition partners on the future. His demands focused on action to reform the federal structures of Belgium, appeasing Flemish separatism by granting greater powers to Flanders and weakening central government.
Leterme's Christian Democrat counterparts in Wallonia baulked, however, triggering the Leterme resignation.
Last month Flemish members of parliament dissolved the pact that has been the underlying basis of government in Belgium for decades, forcing a vote against the wishes of the francophone side and resorting to majority rule. Flanders has 6 million people to Wallonia's 4.5 million people.
While the Flemish side voted, the French-speaking side walked out of the chamber. The issue concerned the fate of three historically Flemish communities on the edge of Brussels. The vote stripped French-speakers of the right to vote for French-speaking parties in the three places.
In Brussels, more than 20,000 people rallied on the streets two weeks ago to profess their loyalty to a state called Belgium.
But beyond the capital, particularly in Flanders, the mood is different.
Dutch and French speakers do not talk to one another. They watch different TV stations, read different newspapers and send their kids to different schools and universities. There are no national political parties. Leterme is a Christian Democrat but his proposals were rejected by Christian Democrats from the other side of the linguistic divide.
Through almost six months of negotiations, the Flemish side has insisted on further concessions to ethnic and linguistic autonomy as the price for forming a common government.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese