Talks on forming a new government in Belgium collapsed over the weekend leading a series of French-speaking politicians to raise the normally-taboo subject of a possible break-up of the country. King Albert on Saturday (4 September) accepted the resignation of French-speaking Socialist leader Elio Di Rupo as lead negotiator after he failed to bring the seven-party talks to an agreement on reforming the state, a precondition for establishing a coalition government.
Talks on forming a new government in Belgium collapsed over the weekend leading a series of French-speaking politicians to raise the normally-taboo subject of a possible break-up of the country.
King Albert on Saturday (4 September) accepted the resignation of French-speaking Socialist leader Elio Di Rupo as lead negotiator after he failed to bring the seven-party talks to an agreement on reforming the state, a precondition for establishing a coalition government.
It is hard to imagine more alarming rhetoric for supporters of a unified Belgium. Throughout the weekend, the Belgian media was dominated by one dramatic statement after another from francophone politicians who now openly discuss the prospect of dividing the country in two. "We must start preparing for the end of Belgium," warned senior Socialist leader Laurette Onkelinx in an interview with La Derniere Heure newspaper. That sentiment was echoed by Rudy Demotte, the leader of the French-speaking Wallonia region, who said that the time had come to consider "all options."
