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Published on The Brussels Journal (http://www.brusselsjournal.com)

Brussels: What the People Vote Down, the Elite Brings Back

By Paul Belien
Created 2007-12-10 23:46

Today, on the 183rd day after last June’s Belgian elections, Belgium’s King Albert II asked outgoing Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt to form a new government. Mr Verhofstadt lost the elections on 10 June. The people voted him down, but the King brought him back. Verhofstadt is like the European Constitution. The people voted it down, and the EU brought it back.

A quote from Euronews, 10 December 2007

As had been widely expected, Belgium's caretaker Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt has been officially asked by the King to form an emergency government to break the country's political crisis.

A quote from the French press agency AFP, 10 December 2007
If agreed quickly, the interim cabinet could spare Belgium the inglorious fate of setting a new European record in early January for the longest period without a new government, topping the Netherlands' best of 208 days in 1977.


Source URL:
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2757