Belgium in 2010

Belgium in 2010

Area: 30,528 sq km (11,787 sq mi)
Population (2010 est.): 10,868,000
Capital: Brussels
Head of state: King Albert II
Head of government: Prime Minister Yves Leterme (acting from April 26)

or two-thirds of 2010, Belgium was effectively ruled by a caretaker government. On April 26 Albert II accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yves Leterme, who had presided over a five-party coalition of French- and Dutch-speaking Christian Democrats and Liberals and French-speaking Socialists for just five months. The coalition collapsed when the Dutch-speaking Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD) withdrew in response to developments in the long-running dispute over the future of the bilingual Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district.

In the general election on June 13, the two biggest winners were the nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), led by Bart De Wever, which secured 27 seats in the 150-seat assembly, and Elio Di Rupo’s French-speaking Socialist Party (PS), which won 26 seats. Over the next six months, several leading politicians, including De Wever and Di Rupo, tried to form a government, strongly urged on by Albert II behind the scenes. By the end of the year, however, these efforts had come to naught, as pressure by De Wever for more fiscal and political autonomy for Flanders was resisted by all potential French-speaking coalition partners.

The caretaker government’s inability to introduce new political initiatives did not impinge on most Belgians’ daily lives, but, embarrassingly, it did coincide with Belgium’s six-month presidency of the EU. With more time to concentrate on their temporary EU responsibilities, however, Belgian ministers met with widely acknowledged success in their EU work. All the while, speculation increased, both at home and abroad, that Belgium would soon split as a state, with unknown consequences for its three regions: Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels.

The economic consequences of the political stalemate became apparent toward the end of the year. In November the government was able to adopt only a provisional national budget for 2011, based on the previous year’s spending levels. More significant, the credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Belgium’s outlook from stable to negative in December and warned that it might also cut the sovereignty rating within six months if there was still no government.

In contrast, the country was able to raise its economic growth forecasts for 2010 from the 1.3% predicted in June to 2.1% in December. It also expected to reduce its gross borrowing requirement for 2011 by about $4.9 billion from the estimated $59.5 billion for 2010.

The year was a turbulent one for the Roman Catholic Church. In April Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe confessed to having molested a minor many years previously. He resigned shortly after his admission. Godfried Danneels, who had served as primate of Belgium for 30 years before his replacement in January by André-Joseph Léonard, admitted that he had tried to stop the victim—Vangheluwe’s nephew—from going public. The revelations prompted some 500 complaints to a committee involved in the investigation of alleged abuses by clerics. The disclosure also led to a public apology by Belgian bishops to the country’s Catholic community that acknowledged the failure to respond adequately to the abuses and that requested forgiveness. Léonard’s conservative public pronouncements, particularly on AIDS, also sparked controversy.

Belgium and the Netherlands failed in their joint bid to host the 2018 association football (soccer) World Cup. Nevertheless, Belgium found a new sports hero in runner Kevin Borlée, who won the 400 m at the European championships in Barcelona—the third Belgian male athlete to become a European champion. In tennis Kim Clijsters successfully defended her U.S. Open title and won four other Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) titles. After a 16-month retirement, Justine Henin reached the final of the Brisbane (Australia) International Tournament and the Australian Open, and three months later she won the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Ger.

Rory Watson