Belgian king delays decision on PM’s resignation: palace

Belgium’s King Albert II on Thursday withheld his decision on whether to accept the resignation of Prime Minister Yves Leterme, a palace statement said.

The king received Leterme at the palace early on Thursday afternoon, after which he warned the country’s feuding Flemish and French-speaking communities that a political crisis stemming from Leterme’s fall would “seriously threaten” its standing within the European Union.

Leterme “presented the resignation of his government,” said the palace statement. “The king is witholding his decision.

“The king and the prime minister underlined how unfortunate it would be, in the current circumstances, to be drawn into a political crisis,” it said.

Such an outcome, it added, “would seriously threaten on the one hand the economic and social well-being of its citizens and on the other hand Belgium’s role at a European level.”