Jump to content

Belgian Chamber of Representatives backs interim government

Add links
Unchecked
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Monday, December 24, 2007

Related articles
Location of Belgium
Collaborate!
Belgium
Belgium

Yesterday, the interim Federal Government of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt received the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of the Belgian Federal Parliament. The interim Federal Government is the third government headed by the Flemish liberal Guy Verhofstadt and was formed after talks to form a centre-right government of Christian democrats and liberals following the federal election of June 10 failed.

The new government is the first Belgian Federal Government that includes Flemish and French-speaking parties belonging to different political families. The asymmetrical coalition includes the Flemish liberals of Open Vld, the French-speaking liberals of the MR, the Flemish Christian democrats of CD&V, the French-speaking Christian democrats of CDH and the French-speaking socialists of the PS. The Flemish socialists are not included in the government, nor is the N-VA, CD&V's Flemish-nationalist partner, however, the N-VA does support the coalition.

Of the 144 Representatives present during the vote of confidence, 97 voted in favour, 46 voted against and one abstained. The parties that voted in favour were CD&V/N-VA, Open Vld, PS, MR and CDH. Vlaams Belang, SP.A-Spirit, LDD, Ecolo and Green! voted against and heavily criticised the new interim Federal Government and its programme. Symbolically, Sarah Smeyers of the N-VA abstained during the vote. The N-VA had announced in advance that one of its members would abstain in order to demonstrate that institutional reform remains a priority for them.

The fourteen ministers of the interim Federal Government were sworn in by King Albert II on Friday, after which Mr Verhofstadt outlined his government's programme in the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. Extraordinarily, the Chamber of Representatives met on Sunday to debate Mr Verhofstadt's declaration and to vote on a motion of confidence.

Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has stated that there should be a permanent Federal Government under the leadership of Yves Leterme, the Flemish Christian democrat who emerged as the winner of the federal election of June 10, by Easter.

The interim Federal Government will concentrate primarily on social and economic issues, while Mr Leterme, who is a Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Budget in the new government, will attempt to prepare the ground for institutional reforms, an important part of CD&V/N-VA's platform during the campaign for the federal election.

Observers have noted the lack of enthusiasm for the interim government. Many fear that it may be overshadowed by tensions between the parties in the coalition as they try to negotiate institutional reforms, including more regional autonomy, an issue on which the Flemish and the French-speaking parties are divided. This is one of the reasons earlier attempts by Mr Leterme to form a Federal Government failed.

[edit]


Sources

[edit]

Share this:  E-mail this story Share on Facebook Share on reddit.com Share on LinkedIn.com Share on twitter.com


This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
Retrieved from "https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Belgian_Chamber_of_Representatives_backs_interim_government"