Belgian politics and the New Year
The New Year has come, and fortunately, a new government for Belgium preceded it slightly. Yes, you heard me. Yet another government. Just when the “Community crisis” seemed to have been forgotten, the economic crisis came along and eventually led to the resignation of our Prime Minister.
It’s probably the last we’ll see for a while of a man who insulted French-speakers but got a record 800.000 votes during the 2007 Federal elections. And this resignation comes just months after he was starting to seem like a capable Prime Minister.
Back in September, I started to believe that maybe Yves Leterme had a chance of leading a real government, when a Flemish-nationalist party allied to his party left the government.
Unfortunately, the economic crisis arrived. It required that Belgium save two major banks, Fortis and Dexia, which the Belgian government did rather swiftly. Too swiftly, it would seem, as this safeguarding procedure led to Leterme’s resignation.
Indeed, when bailing out these banks, and in particular Fortis, procedure was set aside. The shareholders did not have their say in the actions led by the government which resulted in the acquisition by BNP Paribas of many of Fortis’s assets, and the European authorities were apparently not contacted either (Leterme said there had been contact, but the Commission basically told the press that this was a lie).
Shareholders instigated an action against the government before the courts, and more blunders were made which made it apparent that the executive power (the government) had meddled with the judiciary power (the courts), which is highly unconstitutional and contrary to the fundamental principles of democracy.
All in all, it was a mess, and in the end, Leterme’s government fell.
A few days later, though, a successor government was in place. All thanks to the determination of our unwilling new Prime Minister, who is seen as a much more competent and safer man.
Well, Mr Van Rompuy, I wish you all the best on this New Year’s Day. And I hope this government won’t stumble as fast and often as the previous one did.