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| Europe |
| Belgian PM offers to resign after gov't fails to resolve linguistic spat |
| 2008-07-15 |
| Hoe zegt u dat in Belg? Belgian media say Prime Minister Yves Leterme has offered his resignation after his government failed to agree on more self-rule for Belgium's Dutch and French-speaking camps. "Merde!" "Ratten!" The VRT television network says Leterme gave his resignation to King Albert II at the royal palace. It is unclear if it would be accepted. "Ik treed af!" "Eh? Wot's that?" "Je démissionne!" "Eh?" "I'm outta here!" "Oh. So you are. Very well. Goodbye... Alfonse? Who was the man who just left?" "The prime minister, yer majesty." "Oh. We have a prime minister?" "Not any more." Leterme has been struggling to get his Cabinet to agree on proposed constitutional reforms that have paralyzed Belgian politics for more than a year. "Can we just get a little bit of agreement here? Just a little bit?" "Non." "Geen manier." "Ummm... That doesn't make any sense in Dutch." "It doesn't make any sense in Belgian, either!" He had set a deadline of Tuesday for reaching a deal on the autonomy issues. Flemish parties want the prosperous Dutch-speaking north of Belgium to be more autonomous. Francophone parties accuse Dutch-speakers of trying to cut loose the economically lagging Wallonia area. Maybe they should try another language. Is anybody still using Lettish? How about Luvian? |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 |
| Posted by: ebrown2 2008-07-15 23:28 |
| #4 |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-07-15 16:34 |
| #3 |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-07-15 14:33 |
| #2 |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-07-15 12:53 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-07-15 12:39 |