Belarus in 2007

Belarus in 2008

Area: 30,528 sq km (11,787 sq mi)
Population (2008 est.): 10,697,000
Capital: Brussels
Chief of state: King Albert II
Head of government: Prime Ministers Guy Verhofstadt, from March 20, Yves Leterme, and, from December 30, Herman Van Rompuy

The longest-running political crisis in Belgium’s history formally ended in March 2008 when Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme’s five-party coalition government was sworn in—nine months after the country’s general election in June 2007. Leterme took over from former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, who since before Christmas had led an interim government.

The partnership between the French- and Dutch-speaking Christian Democrats and Liberals and the French-speaking Socialists was far from smooth, however, as the parties negotiated possible constitutional reforms that would affect the future status of the bilingual Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV) constituency, which included the capital, and devolve more power to the country’s three regions. In mid-July, Leterme submitted his resignation for a third time when he failed to meet a deadline set by his own party, the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V), for issuing a proposal to resolve the constitutional deadlock. King Albert II refused to accept the prime minister’s resignation, but he did on December 22 when Leterme offered to resign a fourth time after accusations that aides had tried to influence a ruling by the country’s appeals court.

The court case had been brought by shareholders in Fortis NV, which, with operations in Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands, in late September became the first European bank to fail amid the global credit crisis. Each of the three governments had agreed to take a 49% share in its respective country of the operations of the bank, whose origins predated the creation of the Belgian state in 1830. Within days, however, the Dutch government nationalized the bank’s holdings in The Netherlands and the Belgian government sold three-quarters of its 51% stake in Fortis Belgium to France’s BNP Paribas—a decision which the shareholders had decided to challenge though the courts. Soon after the initial Fortis rescue package, the Belgian and Luxembourg governments—this time working with France—stepped in again to prop up another of Belgium’s leading banks, Dexia. After an initial cash injection by the three countries of €6,376,000,000 (€1 = about $1.40) had failed to prevent the bank’s shares from plummeting, they announced that between them they would guarantee all new issues of obligations by the bank, interbank deposits, and institutional investments until the end of October 2009.

Two other Belgian companies were involved in major international deals during the year. InBev, which was formed in 2004 when Belgian company Interbrew merged with Brazil’s AmBev, continued on the acquisition trail. In July it paid $52 billion for Anheuser-Busch, which accounted for almost half of all U.S. beer sales. The new company, called Anheuser-Busch InBev, was looking to produce 460 million hectolitres (about 12 billion gal) of beer a year—about a quarter of global beer consumption. Brussels Airlines, created in 2006 after a merger between SN Brussels Airlines (the successor to the bankrupt national carrier SABENA) and Virgin Express, formed an alliance with Germany’s Lufthansa, Europe’s second largest airline. Under the deal, signed on September 15, the German carrier agreed to buy 45% of the Belgian airline for €65 million, with the option of acquiring the whole company in 2011 for a maximum price of €250 million.

Hugo Claus, a colossus on the Belgian literary landscape, died on March 19. Claus, who suffered from Alzheimer disease, chose to die by euthanasia, taking advantage of liberal legalization that had been introduced six years earlier.

Three of Belgium’s favourite sportswomen, tennis star Justine Henin, track and field athlete Kim Gevaert, and high jumper Tia Hellebaut, retired from competition in 2008. Henin, the world’s number one female player almost continuously from November 2006 until her retirement in May, won 7 Grand Slam titles during her career, in addition to 33 other Women’s Tennis Association singles titles and gold at the 2004 Olympics; Gevaert had dominated Belgian sprinting for the past decade; and Hellebaut won gold at the Beijing Olympics.

by: Rory Watson