This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/7506640.stm
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Belgian PM 'to offer resignation' | Belgian PM 'to offer resignation' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme is tendering his government's resignation to the king after failing to carry out political reforms, his spokesman says. | Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme is tendering his government's resignation to the king after failing to carry out political reforms, his spokesman says. |
| King Albert II will have to decide whether to accept his resignation. | King Albert II will have to decide whether to accept his resignation. |
| Mr Leterme had set a 15 July deadline to push through measures to devolve more power to the regions. | Mr Leterme had set a 15 July deadline to push through measures to devolve more power to the regions. |
| He took office in March - after nine months of political deadlock - as the head of a coalition of Dutch and French-speaking parties. | |
| The coalition includes Mr Leterme's Flemish Christian Democrats from the north as well as Socialists from the French-speaking region of Wallonia in the south. | |
| The prime minister was due to present a state reform deal in a speech to parliament on Tuesday. | |
| Before last June's general election, Mr Leterme had promised his supporters even more devolved powers for regional governments in a country that is already Europe's most decentralised state. | |
| In French-speaking Wallonia - where unemployment is higher and the economy sluggish - there were fears this would leave their region worse off. | |
| No single party bridges the linguistic and geographic gulf between Belgium's two regions. | |
| Traditionally, the prime minister comes from one of the majority Flemish parties. |