Belgian king continues consultations on ways to avert crisis

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BRUSSELS, Dec. 22 (Chinese media) -- Belgian King Albert II continued consultations with leading Belgian politicians on Monday to try to find a solution to the current political crisis following Friday's resignation of the entire government.

Over the weekend, the king held talks with representatives of the five coalition ruling parties as well as the speakers of the two houses of parliament.

The five ruling parties are the Flemish and the Walloon Christian Democrats, the Flemish and the Walloon Liberals, and the Walloon Socialists.

The king has not yet decided whether to accept the resignation of the government led by Prime Minister Yves Leterme. But Leterme, a Flemish Christian Democrat, said Sunday he would not assume any position in the new government to be formed.

On Monday morning, Leterme met with the king for about an hour at the king's palace. Their discussion has not been made public.

The Belgian government submitted its resignation after the Belgian supreme court pointed to signs of government attempts to prevent a Brussels court from blocking the breakup of financial services group Fortis.

The events plunged the country into another crisis as the economy is heading for a recession and unemployment is rising as a result of the financial crisis.

The Belgian supreme court said Friday that although there was no legal proof that Leterme's office had tried to influence the Brussels appeals court, but there were "strong indications in this sense."

The court ruled earlier this month that the partial sale of Fortis to French bank BNP Paribas could not proceed before shareholders were consulted.

This was seen as a major blow to the Belgian government's bailout plan for the former Belgian-Dutch financial group. In October, the Belgian government decided to nationalize Fortis operations in Belgium and sell 75 percent of the assets to BNP Paribas without the smaller shareholders' consent.

Belgian Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen, a Christian Democrat like Leterme, resigned immediately after the report was made public. Hours later, the entire cabinet handed in resignation.

According to Belgian media reports, possible candidates for prime minister include the leader of Flemish Christian Democrats Marianne Thyssen, former prime minister Jean-Luc Deheane, and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the lower house of parliament.

Another former prime minister, Guy Verhofstad, has also been mentioned. But the Flemish Liberal politician has ruled himself out.

The country's political parties seem to disagree on whether new general elections should be held next year or in 2011. The Flemish Christian Democrats prefer the elections to be held in 2011, while the other coalition parties and some opposition parties want to have elections in June next year.

The Leterme government was sworn in March after nine months of difficult negotiations because of major differences on state reforms.

The government offered its first resignation in July after Leterme failed to bridge the gap between Flemish and Walloon parties on devolution of powers to regions. But the Belgian king rejected the resignation.