'Three wise men' given more time to resolve political crisis

Thursday 31 July 2008

Three senior politicians appointed by Belgium's King Albert II, known collectively as "the three wise men," have made headway in resolving the differences between Flemish and Walloon power sharing.

Belgium's King Albert II has extended until late September the mission of three senior politicians to find a way out of the country's damaging political crisis, the royal palace said Thursday.
  
His decision came after the "three wise men" reported some progress over the last two weeks toward narrowing the differences over power-sharing that have divided Belgium's French- and Dutch-speaking communities.
  
"They mentioned that progress was made during their mission," the statement said.
  
"Consequently the mediators are willing to continue their work, in particular on the structure of inter-institutional dialogue, which should lead to deeper state reform," it continued.
  
"The king appreciated their availability and asked them to draw up a report for him in the second half of September," the statement added.
  
State reform essentially refers to the devolution of powers from federal to regional level.
  
Flanders, Belgium's Dutch-speaking region accounting for some 60 percent of the 10.5 million population, has long sought more regional powers to reflect its prosperity.
  
It also resents subsidising the less affluent, French-speaking Wallonia region to its south. Belgium also has a small German-speaking minority.
  
Unable to resolve the problem, more than a year after the June 10, 2007 general elections, Prime Minister Yves Leterme handed in his resignation two weeks ago but the king refused to accept it.
  
In an effort to end the stalemate, the king appointed the trio of senior politicians.
  
They are Walloon minister Raymond Langendries; Francois-Xavier de Donnea of the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital region; and Karl-Heinz Lambertz from the German-speaking community.
  
Leterme, as prime minister, will ensure that the interests of the Flemish-speaking community are respected.
  
The politicians have been asked "to examine in what way guarantees can be offered in order to begin in a credible way an institutional dialogue."