Loser to Lead Belgium's Interim Government

After a meeting with King Albert II, Guy Verhofstadt, left, the liberal ousted by voters in June, accepted the job of forming and leading an interim government because of the ”gravity of the situation in which our country finds itself.” But he said he did not want to remain in power beyond March. Mr. Verhofstadt, who had been prime minister since 1999, conceded defeat after the June election but has stayed on because the conservatives who won proved unable to form a coalition.

On Saturday, thousands of trade unionists took to the streets in Brussels, complaining about the political stalemate and rising food and fuel prices.

Belgium created a social welfare system in which the unions are related to one specific political party and it is the unions which pay the jobless peoples support payments.

The medicare and health insurance system payments are also executed by organisations related each to one political party. For this "work", the health insurance organisations and the unions receive an administration "commission" of 7%.

Do you think the unions want to stop this? The Walloon jobless bring an enormous income to the unions. The Flemish unions, which are Socialist at heart, would lose serious financial income in an independent Flanders.

They are the champions of the status quo.