Belgian 'wise men' strike breakthrough devolution deal

My...lets throw flowers at ourselves and we shall be known as the Committee of Wise Men! It's been my experience that a wise man in Belgium must be an expat or a tourist.

Eight Belgian elder statesmen reached a breakthrough deal on further devolution early on Monday that could end eight months of political deadlock and lead to formation of a new government within a month. Under the deal reached early on Monday, the interim five-party government would try to transfer a series of minor powers to the regions and pursue measures to strengthen cooperation between the regions. STORY

Verhofstadt to resign as Prime Minister on March 20

PM Verhofstadt confirmed his intention to leave before Easter at a meeting of party chairs Monday evening.
On Maundy Thursday Verhofstadt will pass the torch on to Yves Leterme. Leterme can then go to the King with his team of ministers to be sworn in, and his government declaration is planned to take place in parliament that Thursday afternoon.

France to annex Belgium

Well not quite, but the French public seems ready for it. Here are the results of a just released Ifop poll for Le Journal du Dimanche, taken on November 8th.

Very favorable 10%

Rather favorable 44%

Rather unfavorable 18%

Not at all favorable 23%

No opinion 5%

Someone should ask the Belgians first. Here are just a couple of the comments on the poll listed above.

"Still it would be necessary to ask the Wallonians if they wish for it! As for me, I am a Belgian francophone and I refuse to become French!"

"No thank you. We do not want to live in North Africa!"

Meanwhile, up north.......Almost half the Dutch population is positive towards a merger between the Netherlands and Flanders. The newspaper DAG reported this on Monday after an opinion poll by Maurice de Hond.
The poll showed that 45 percent of the Dutch would support a union with Flanders. The majority however, 49 percent, would be opposed to such a merger. The supporters are largely people who would vote for Geert Wilders. It is remarkable that 80 percent of the respondents said they "liked Flemings."
The opinion poll is a reaction to the government crisis that has dragged on for months in Belgium. The Walloons and Flemings have been unable to form a government since elections in June because of fundamental disagreement on the future of the country.

Belgium Government Talks Collapse

Five months after elections, government negotiations to reform power-sharing between Belgium's six million Dutch-speaking Flemings and 4.5 million Francophones collapsed Wednesday, throwing the nation further into political crisis.

King Albert now has to take the next step which could include trying to form a government of national unity that would include the Socialists who lost badly in the June elections. WALL STREET JOURNAL