Belgium: rumours that King Albert II is to abdicate

[FosseWay]

The French newspaper Le Monde is reporting rumours that King Albert II will abdicate in December in favour of his son Philippe. If correct, presumably this will mean a new range of euro coinage for Belgium, since the monarch is shown on the national side. No doubt there'll be commemoratives for a coronation, too.

[Figleaf]

As Le Monde notes, this would be a pretty bad moment. Political turmoil in the face of the EU presidency, while his son is seen as pretty stupid. Therefore, don't count on the rumour to be true. Nevertheless, Albert has had his senior moments also and this may just be another one of them.

Peter

[chrisild]

May be true, but what would be a better moment? Guess that, after having seen so many attempts at forming a government coalition which failed, he got tired of that. And I don't think it will get any better in that regard. Abdicating now (or fairly soon) would give Philippe the chance to appear on coins from Belgium. If they waited a few more years, who knows ...

Christian

[bart]

There are indeed rumours Albert II is to abdicate after Belgium has ended its Presidency time of the E.U.
It seems politicians were silently preparing the change to Philippe by changing the royal prerogatives. They were trying to cut the role of the monarch in the forming of a new government and also his role in affirming laws, so the new king should only have a protocollary function.

Unfortunately the government collapsed before this could be completed and the time is very difficult to make this kind of changes in the system. I cannot predict whether the king will abdicate or not, but it is very clear he gets tired of trying to solve the problems of forming a new government. On the other hand: no one in Belgium is waiting for Philippe to be king...

Bart

[Ukrainii Pyat]

Belgium certainly is a country that has had problems with monarchs and governments.  I don't believe that splitting the country up into Flemish and Walloon countries will take care of all the problems either, rather it might just exacerbate them.

[chrisild]

Oh well. Seems the story was made up - and now some Flemish newspaper blames (surprise) Walloon circles.   "La succession du Roi Albert II par son fils le prince Philippe à la fin de la présidence de l'Union européenne, n'est absolument pas à l'ordre du jour, a indiqué mardi Pierre-Emmanuel de Bauw, porte-parole du Palais, contacté par l'agence Belga. L'information émanait des cercles libéraux francophones, rapportait mardi le quotidien flamand Het laatste Nieuws." http://www.dhnet.be/infos/belgique/article/328816/le-roi-aurait-voulu-abdiquer-au-mois-de-decembre.html

Christian

[Figleaf]

Maybe I have a suspicious mind, but this could have been a negotiating tactic. It works like this: X and Y are disagreeing parties, A is a neutral mediator. If X and Y cannot reach an agreement, there are negative consequences for all three.

A: I give up. I can't see how you two can agree. Let's wrap this up in an orderly fashion and accept the consequences. I will let the world know I failed (in this case: I abdicate)
X: We are very close to an agreement, why give up now?
Y: Just give us more time. I know we can do it.
A: All right then. Let's try [one more week], but then I stop.

A has now put time pressure on X and Y and signalled that he can pull out the plug and they won't like that. They realize they need A and are now more motivated to come to an agreement.

Peter

[bart]

Well, I don't think this tactic is working now: X and Y are not willing to take even only one little step towards each other. If A would be forced to do what he's threatening (in this case: abdicate) I am afraid the problem would even be more complex with B (son of A) as "moderator".

The newest step after the failure of clarificator Bart de Wever: it seems former deputy-prime-minister Johan Vande Lanotte (Flemish socialist) will be appointed tonight as a new royal mediator. So the soap continues...

In any case: we have got a whole new vocabulary lately to describe the functions of everyone trying to form a government: before we had a "informator", who searches the necessary information so his successor, the "formator" can form a government. In Duth ánd French; informateur and formateur. Now we also have royal mediators, clarificators, preformators etc... and still no government.

Bart

[chrisild]

As for Belgium, these days one ends up being quoted by newspapers no matter how absurd an idea is.   "En cas de scission de la Belgique, la Wallonie francophone aurait «intérêt» à se rattacher à l'Allemagne, car la France a «une culture aux antipodes de la nôtre», a affirmé jeudi le ministre socialiste belge francophone de l'Energie et du Climat Paul Magnette." http://www.liberation.fr/monde/01012297636-un-ministre-belge-prefere-voir-la-wallonie-allemande-plutot-que-francaise

Uh, errm ... quoi?

Christian

[Figleaf]

Philippe as German emperor. Ze mind boggles. 

Peter