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Around this time, Yves Leterme is being sworn in as Prime Minister of my home country. What a disgrace! He won the elections in June of 2007, almost two and a half years ago. He then tried to form a government, in which he did not succeed. He needed help from his predecessors, who solved the political crisis that was caused by him, in order to become Prime Minister for the first time somewhere in March of 2008. Leterme was Prime Minister of Belgium until December of last year, when he was forced to resign due to the Fortis scandal, the Belgian bank that was sold by his government to the French. Herman Van Rompuy then became Prime Minister, and worked silently during the past couple of months.

Somewhere during the last summer, he became Minister of Foreign Affaires, until last week, Herman Van Rompuy was chosen to become the first President of the European Union. A very capable politician moves on to Europe, only to be succeeded by the most incapable politician throughout the Belgian political history.

By having him back, Belgium is cruising directly towards another political crisis, a crisis not seen before in Belgian history. Leterme is not capable of running the country, that’s a fact. He has lied to parliament, he has lied to the Belgian people and he has won the elections in 2007 by promissing irrealistic promisses. People like him do not deserve a second chance.

But apparently, some Belgian politicians do not agree with this, and are giving him a second chance. I can only hope it’ll be the last one.

I don’t have the capabilities to look into the future, but I don’t give it a lot of time before his second government will fall. A time-frame? Let’s say Eastern of 2010 to end this new government, followed by new elections in June of next year…

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It was just a perfect day. Too bad I didn’t spend it with you. This first day of the spring of 2009 was indeed a special day for me. I enjoyed every second of it. I woke up at 06.30am, took a shower, had a nice breakfast (last night, I baked a wonderful bread one can’t find in this country), and this morning I went to the “Mercado Municipal” in Huelva, Spain. Huelva is the first “major” city across the Spanish border, and every now and then, especially on Saturdays, I like to go over there to buy some fresh fish and vegetables. Obviously, we do have fresh fish over here in the Algarve as well, but the atmosphere in Spain is pretty different compared to Portugal. That’s why I sometimes cross the boarder.

Apparently, it was the time of the year that very special mushrooms are being sold, as I saw some which I had never seen before in my life. Being a bit of an adventures guy, I bought some, and asked the lady behind the counter how to prepare them. She explained everything to me, and I must say, I cooked them tonight, and they were, by far, the best mushrooms I ever ate. Together with the “corvina” steak, I had a wonderful meal tonight. Sometimes I tend to forget what great a cook I am. And I am NOT bragging!

This afternoon, I went for a very long walk through the wonderful “Parque Natural do Ria Formosa”. I was away for nearly three hours. Enjoying the nature, the amazing sunshine on this first day of spring, the wonderful landscape while taking a couple of pictures you can see if you scroll down (or if you continue reading)…

I didn’t want to think of the truckload of e-mails that are still waiting for a response, the quotes I still have to make for my potential customers. I didn’t want to think too much about the former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme who gave his first interview to the Belgian press after having resigned from office in December last year. I didn’t want him to ruin my day. I hope he’ll never come back on the political scene. With him being out of the picture, it’s nice to be a Belgian again. No need to be ashamed anymore. With him in the picture, it was pretty hard to be a Belgian. Hey, it was a Saturday today, so I decided to enjoy every second of it. And I did.

I hope you’ll enjoy the pictures below. I took them this afternoon, during my walk…

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I’ve been here in Belgium for one week right now, and the news has been focussing on the formation of the new government. New? Well, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice have been changed, one other Minister has resigned as well, and now the Belgian government can go on governing, as nothing has happened. No new elections, just business as usual. And while the new government has only been in office since yesterday, plans are already being made for new changes. Our current Minister of Foreign Affairs is planning to become a Secretary of whatever kind of department in the European Government by the end of 2009, and plans are that Yves Leterme will get his current job. The most incapable Prime Minister of the Belgian government in history has only been away for a little over one week, and he’s already back in the spotlights! I thought, maybe a little naively, that politics and politicians should be focussing on improving the life of the people in a region, a country, the world… Apparently, the majority of them are focussing on their own lives and jobs…

We have started the last day of 2008 right now. Time for looking back? Is it necessary? While change has come for the United States when early November, a dream finally came true after four and a half decades, the world has not become a better place to live in over the past year. Too many crimes against humanity are being committed each and every day.

The Middle East for example, where I have never seen a month of peace in my whole life! Eastern Congo, where millions of people have already died over the past decade. Afghanistan, where no foreign nation EVER has won a war. Irak. Georgia last summer. I don’t want to carry on. It makes me too sad. And I am not a negative person, I am not a pessimist.

So let’s focus on the future. Let’s hope Barack Obama will be able to change a couple of things, in the first place for his country where God blesses oh so many things… And maybe, just maybe, politicians of the rest of the world will learn a little from him.

Let’s try together to turn 2009 into the best year ever!

Happy New Year!

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The end has finally come for Belgian Yves Leterme’s first government. He won the elections in June 2007 with an overwhelming 800.000 votes, so he was bound to become the Prime Minister of a government that didn’t really get to a start. It was only some time in December of last year, when he had given in his resignation for the second time to King Albert II, that his predecessor Guy Verhofstadt had to put an urgency government together for three months, freeing the roads for Leterme, who finally became the Prime Minister in March of this year. A job he couldn’t handle. I believe it was in the summer of this year that he put in his resignation for the third time. And last Friday, he finally threw the towel again. It seems unthinkable that the King will not accept this resignation for the fourth time. So he’s out.

It must be hard for the man. I didn’t like him at all, because I knew from the very start in June of last year that he would not be able to run the country. But his ambition made him lose a lot of things: credibility, friends (although I really doubt it that there are friends in politics), but above all his health. I honestly believe the end of his political career has come. While he’s even younger than I am, about six months or so.

What now? New elections for the European and Regional parliament are going to be held in June of next year. The political situation in Belgium is far too complex to be explained in a couple of simple words, but they should organise new elections by then for the Federal Government as well. And until then, why not ask a couple of elderly politicians, guys who have been retired, to come back and lead the country for the next six months? It might seem a stupid idea, but during this worst economic crisis in human history, a country needs good leadership. Maybe now is the time for the King to call in his “Crown Council”, a group of statesmen that can assist the King in difficult times. I believe the last time a Belgian King called that council together was during or just after the second World War. But hey, don’t we live in a time of crisis again?

In less than a month, Barack Obama will have been installed as the 44th President of the United States. He as well won the November elections with a big majority. He is maybe the most popular man on this globe right now. I can only hope he will be able to fulfill the goals he has set. He has already announced that the road will be difficult and long. Let’s hope the American public will not turn against him, when this economic situation will not end soon.

After all, wasn’t President George Bush Senior very popular when he had won the first Gulf War? We all know that his popularity went down like a rock a couple of years later…

But I guess the American leadership is more adult than the Belgian kids that have been trying to run my home country for the last nine months.

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Sometimes, being a Belgian living abroad is not easy. Especially when my foreign friends over here are asking questions about the very peculiar Belgian political situation. It seems a never ending story, but over and over again, I have to explain to them what kind of actions our incapable Belgian politicians are taking while trying to run my home country. I am not a lawyer, and I have never studied the law very well, but I know a little bit about it. The least thing I expect is that people running a country know the law as well. And if not, they should be surrounded by very capable lawyers who’s job it is to protect these politicians against themselves.

Since two days, Belgium is again in crisis. Or should I say… the crisis has become worse? Since the June 2007 elections, Belgium has seen the worst crisis in its history. And since March of this year, Belgium has the most incapable Prime Minister in its history as well. Yves Leterme went to the elections with one slogan: “Who believes these people?” Giving critics on his opponent and his liberal party.

Crembo, our Minister of Defense has been very quiet over the last couple of weeks, since he was spotted being drunk in the New York bar and since he was overwhelmed by reactions after having called bloggers as being dangerous species. Last week, the Minister of Justice has put himself above the law, while he had to cover up mistakes that had been made by people working in jail. A decision the whole country could approve of. But yes, a little against the law. What had happened?

A young female police officer was killed in December last year in a gunfight while doing her job. A couple of weeks later, the murderers were arrested and have been in jail since then. One of these killers had appealed against a court’s decision to keep him in jail, and due to some incredible mistake, these papers were lost! Officially, he had to be released out of prison, he was to become a free man again. Fortunately, the Justice Department found another reason to keep this gangster in jail. If he had been freed, it would have been just another scandal on top of all the rest.

This week however, in the Fortis saga - the biggest Belgian bank that was sold by the government to the Dutch and the French, the goverment interfeared with the Justice department and tried to influence the court to have a verdict in its favor. The court overruled these interventions, the press found out, the crisis became worse, and normally, Yves Leterme should resign from his office. That’s the normal thing to do as Prime Minister.

Not in Belgium however! While I had expected to see him resign from his office, he simply continues. As if nothing has happened.

I can only ask one question: “Who believes Yves Leterme?”

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