Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme will stay on as prime minister for the time being.
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Belgium's Prime Minister Yves Leterme of the Flemish Christian democrat party (CD&V) leaves the Belvedere Palace in Brussels after a meeting with Belgian King Albert II, July 15, 2008. Belgium's King Albert II turned down the government's resignation on Friday, the royal palace said in a statement. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
Meanwhile, three senior politicians have been asked to find a way out of the current crisis. They have to find out how politicians from linguistically divided regions can begin a "credible" dialogue about more regional autonomy.
After three days of consultation with political parties, regional governments and other role players, the king asked the three to submit a report by July 31, the palace statement said.
The three include two ministers of state, Raymond Langendries from the Francophone Christian Democrats and Francois-Xavier de Donnea from the Francophone Liberals. The third is the prime minister of the German-speaking region in eastern Belgium, Karl-Heinz Lambertz.
The king asked Leterme "to encourage as best as is possible" chances of reviving the debate on state reforms, the statement said.
Leterme handed in his resignation on Monday night after failing to broker a deal on state reforms between the Dutch- and French- speaking camps.
He came into office in March leading a five-party coalition after nine months of political wrangling over the formation of a government.
Parties from the Dutch-speaking north of Belgium, or Flanders, are demanding greater autonomy for regions, while their counterparts from the French-speaking Wallonia in the south fear more autonomy for the Flanders may lead to reduced budget to the poorer Walloon region and the bilingual capital, Brussels.
The two sides also disagree on the splitting of the constituency in Brussels.
The challenge now is to find a formula acceptable to all parties involved. The Flemish have demanded that they should have guarantees on state reforms before adopting the new scenario of a direct dialogue between different regions.
