Belgium braces for worst as Yves Leterme returns as Prime Minister

Belgium's newly appointed Prime Minister Yves Leterme











He called his country “an accident of history”. He forgot the national anthem. He insulted half the population by suggesting that they were lazy or stupid. Yves Leterme’s first stint as the Prime Minister of Belgium was not a resounding success. Now he is back for another go.

Despite presiding over a crisis that nearly broke up the country, Mr Leterme, 49, has been recalled by Albert II, King of the Belgians.

Herman Van Rompuy, Mr Leterme’s replacement, has been plucked from office to become Europe’s first President. The owlish Mr Van Rompuy, who writes Japanese-style haiku poetry in spare moments during boring meetings, was seen as a master of consensus who repaired the damage of the first Leterme leadership. The country is bracing itself for Mr Leterme’s return.

Belgium has a complicated political scene, with no national parties, but rival factions serving the Francophone and Dutch-speaking communities.

Although he has a French-speaking father, Mr Leterme was raised as a Fleming from the Dutch-speaking north, and stoked ill will by showing his disregard for the Francophone south on several occasions. He once suggested that all the Belgian people shared was their “King, national football team and certain beers”. In 2006, he upset French-speakers by suggesting that they were either lazy or lacked the “intellectual capacity” to learn Dutch. A supporter of Flemish autonomy, he even said Belgium had “no intrinsic value” as a unified state.

Yet he has managed to offend the Flemings as well. Asked to sing a few lines of the national anthem Brabanconne, he launched into a rendition of France’s La Marseillaise instead.

Mr Leterme’s Flemish Christian Democrats (CDV) won the elections of June 2007, but such was the mistrust between the feuding parties that he was only able to form a ruling coalition in March 2008. The stress of forming a government was so severe that he had to take a couple of weeks off.

He first offered his resignation in July 2008 as a way of trying to take the sting out of a debate on whether the country’s two halves would be better going their separate ways. The row blew up amid plans to devolve more power to the regions, seen as a slippery slope to Flemish independence, with the Government of five parties unable to agree on a budget.

The financial crisis took place during his short reign and he bore the brunt of anger over the break-up of Fortis, a Belgian bank, before being forced out of office last December.

A senior judge accused officials of meddling in the sell-off of Fortis, but Mr Leterme was eventually cleared of malpractice and returned to political office as Foreign Minister.

He is still reviled by sections of the French-speaking community. Its main newspaper, Le Soir, is arguing against his return as prime minister and has organised a petition of its readers.

Not even the great mediator Mr Van Rompuy could bring himself to express enthusiasm for his successor. “It is now his second chance. He has all the elements to prove he will be a good prime minister. I hope so for him and for Belgium,” he said.

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