Word: verhofstadt
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...ministers in the unity government who took their oaths of office Friday will face a full parliamentary vote of confidence on Monday. They will be led by outgoing Flemish Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. In principle, it will remain in office until March 23 next year. The government consists of five political parties: Liberals and Christian Democrats from both language communities, along with the French-speaking Socialists. Although the coalition is disproportional in terms of parties, its ministerial split is an even seven each for the Flemish and French-speaking parties...
...Verhofstadt's caretaker administration has been tasked by King Albert II to manage pressing problems such as the 2008 budget, the Belgian troop presence in Lebanon, and the rise in food and fuel prices. Last Saturday, about 20,000 people took part in a demonstration called by unions to protest against the political state of paralysis and the aforementioned price hikes. Last week, the Belgian central bank said inflation would speed up next year to its highest rates of the decade, while economic growth will slow more than previously projected. On top of that, the European Commission has also warned...
...Verhofstadt also needs to lay the groundwork for a more permanent administration, led by the biggest winner of the June elections, Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme. Leterme, whose party has been out of office for eight years, has been unable to stitch together his own government coalition. At various times over the past six months, both he and his prospective coalition partners from the French-speaking parties have appeared baffled at one another's demands. An emergency coalition is thought to be one way of helping them understand each other better...
...Francophone liberal Reynders, one of two deputy Prime Ministers, claimed that the formation of a government meant "the crisis is over for Belgium." However, questions still surround the managerial ability of Leterme: after all, the Flemish firebrand failed to form a government despite six months of trying. By contrast, Verhofstadt took less than two weeks to secure his unity coalition...
...Leterme, one of four Flemish Christian Democrats in the coalition, is the other deputy Prime Minister. Although nominally in charge of the budget portfolio, he will lead talks with the other parties on constitutional changes. These talks will be amongst a group of 12 established political names that Verhofstadt will choose - although the departing prime minister will not himself be part of the process. If these talks fail, there is the chance that the interim government could stay on until the regional elections in 2009, which might then double up with another federal poll. But such chatter underlines the fragile...