July 15, 2008
STILL WAFFLING:
Belgian Premier Leterme Submits Resignation (Der Spiegel, 7/15/08)
Belgians woke up to a case of déjà-vu on Tuesday morning, learning that Prime Minister Yves Leterme had resigned overnight, plunging the country into yet another political crisis.Leterme had offered to resign after failing to meet a deadline to reconcile parties from both sides of Belgium's linguistic divide on a path to reform the federal state.
King Albert II is now "weighing" whether to accept the resigination and has begun consulting with political leaders on how to resolve the crisis.
Leterme said in a statement that the "communities' conflicting visions of how to give a new equilibrium to our state have become incompatible," adding that the "federal model has reached its limit."
When you have to talk about multiple "communities" you aren't talking about a nation anymore. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 15, 2008 10:33 AM
When was Belgium ever a nation? The British just wanted someone helpless to control Antwerp.
Posted by: Brandon at July 15, 2008 1:05 PMLet them designate English as their official language and get it over with. It already is the de facto language all over the EU.
Posted by: erp at July 15, 2008 1:20 PM
...with pecans and maple syrup?
Posted by: Bartman at July 15, 2008 12:54 PM