The Belgian parliament gave the government of new Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy a vote of confidence on Friday, as expected, after his predecessor was forced out amid a bailout scandal.
The lower house deputies approved the five-party coalition and Van Rompuy’s nomination by King Albert II by 88 votes to 45 after a lengthy debate, reflecting the balance of power between the government and the opposition.
Van Rompuy, who received much applause from the assembled deputies, has vowed to carry on the main planks of the government of his Flemish Christian-Democrat party colleague Yves Leterme, which had the same five-party mix of Flemish Christian Democrats and Liberals; and French-speaking Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists.
Leterme quit along with his government on Dec. 19 amid allegations that his aides had sought to influence a court ruling related to the break-up of Fortis bank.
A top Belgian judge said he had “strong indications,” but no legal proof, that Leterme’s aides tried to influence the court.
How long the government can last with the same coalition make-up and policies remains a matter of doubt, given the enduring intercommunal tensions between the richer Dutch-speaking community in Flanders and their poorer francophone neighbors in southern Wallonia.
Van Rompuy jumped straight into the fray, telling parliament during his first speech as prime minister on Wednesday that he would accelerate the negotiations on the future of the country and the thorny issue of devolving more powers to the regions. He asked the parliament to judge his government on its actions not its promises, but also asked for time.
“Don’t judge the government … by its intentions but by its results, but no results in the very short-term. Judge us in 2011,” when the next legislative elections are due, he told the lawmakers.
The Flemish opposition on Friday questioned the legitimacy of the new government.
Jan Jambon, of the Flemish nationalist NVA party, denounced “a government which does not represent a majority of the Flemish people.”
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS