Cowboys shoot down hopes for government

Headlining with “Result after 207 days: NOTHING,” De Morgen deplores the ongoing political stalemate in Belgium. On 5 January, two Flemish parties, the nationalist N-VA and the Christian-democratic CD&V, rejected the proposal for institutional reform presented the official mediator Johan Vande Lanotte. As a result, 207 days after the 2010 general election, Belgium will remain without a government. The warring Flemish and Francophone parties “are like two clans of cowboys shaping up for a battle over an abandoned village,” writes the Flemish daily. In the absence of an agreement, negotiations will remain in deadlock, remarks De Morgen, which wonders if new elections should be organised, or if the country should establish an emergency government.