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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001965 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOC FOR 4212/ITA/MAC/EUR/OECA/WNE/JLEVINE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINR BE
SUBJECT: BELGIUM:  COMPOSITION OF NEW GOVERNMENT HEADED BY 
HERMAN VAN ROMPUY 
 
REF: BRUSSELS 1961 
 
 ¶1.  (U)  Herman Van Rompuy became Belgium's Prime Minister 
on December 30, and will lead a government mostly composed of 
the same Ministers who served outgoing PM Yves Leterme.  The 
few ministerial changes are Stefaan de Clercq at Justice 
(replacing Jo Vandeurzen), Guido de Padt at Interior, 
replacing Patrick Dewael, who becomes Leader of the House, 
and, in a last-minute change, Steven Vanackere as Minister of 
Public Works/Enterprise and Institutional Reform. 
Vanackere's predecessor, Inge Vervotte, submitted her 
resignation mid-afternoon on December 30 in "solidarity" with 
outgoing PM Leterme and Vandeurzen, according to press 
reports.  Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht kept his 
position and was also designated to be a Deputy Prime 
Minister. 
 
¶2.  (U)  The new government, Belgium's third in the last 18 
months, will face a daunting list of responsibilities in the 
run-up to June 2009's regional and European elections: 
adjusting the 2009 budget to tougher economic and fiscal 
realities brought on by the recession, while fine-tuning the 
stimulus package designed by the Leterme administration; 
implementing the 2009-10 wage agreement; re-starting the 
dialogue between Belgium's Flemish and Walloon communities; 
and managing the hoped-for sale of Fortis Bank to BNP Paribas 
(assuming the courts rule that the sale may proceed) and 
providing additional help if needed to other Belgian banks 
(e.g., Dexia).  And the new government must do this while 
trying to keep its five-party coalition together through the 
June elections and beyond to 2011. 
 
 
LIST OF MINISTERS 
----------------- 
 
¶3.  Here is the make-up of the new government (unofficial 
English translations from the French provided by Embassy 
Brussels) sworn in the evening of December 30 by King Albert 
II (* designates change of personnel from Leterme government): 
 
Prime Minister:  Herman Van Rompuy* 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and 
Institutional Reforms:  Didier Reynders 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs and 
Public Health: Laurette Onkelinx 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs: Karel 
De Gucht 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Affairs, Public 
Enterprises and Institutional Reforms: Steven Van Ackere* 
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labor and Equality of 
Opportunity: Joelle Milquet 
Minister of Justice: Stefaan De Clercq* 
Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Independent 
Business, Agriculture and Science Policy: Sabine Laruelle 
Minister of Social Integration, Retirement and Urban Centers: 
Marie Arena 
Minister of Defense:  Pieter De Crem 
Minister of Climate and Energy: Paul Magnette 
Minister of Development Cooperation: Charles Michel 
Minister for Enterprise and Simplification: Vincent Van 
Quickenborne 
Minister of Immigration and Asylum Policy: Annemie Turtelboom 
Minister of Interior: Guido De Padt* 
 
SOME BACKROUND ON VAN ROMPUY 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Van Rompuy is the first economist to serve as Prime 
Minister in the last 27 years.  Perhaps showing the 
importance that budgetary matters will have, Van Rompuy, who 
was budget minister from 1992-97 and in that job successfully 
engineered improvements in Belgium's public finances, will 
have the State Minister for Budget report directly to him, no 
longer to the Minister of Finance.  Van Rompuy lives in the 
Brussels region, and reportedly has good contacts with 
Belgium's francophone politicians.  Van Rompuy's 
administration could take on a more pro-business bent, with 
the departure of Leterme, Vandeurzen and Vervotte, who were 
more aligned with the trade union faction of the CD&V. 
 
 
¶5.  Unofficial bio of Minister of Justice Stefaan De Clerck 
(unofficial translation from the French by Embassy Brussels, 
source: LeSoir.be) 
 
51 years old, born in the Flemish city of Kortrijk.  Studied 
 
BRUSSELS 00001965  002 OF 002 
 
 
law at Catholic University of Leuven.  Practiced law in 
Kortrijk, where he is mayor.  Quickly made a name for himself 
in politics.  Became a representative of the Federal 
parliament in 1990, and was already considered as being 
potential ministerial material when the first Dehaene 
government was formed (1992-95).  Five years later he became 
Minister of Justice in the second Dehaene 
administration.(1995-99). 
 
In April 1998, though, he became one of the "political 
victims" of the Dutroux affaire (note: Marc Dutroux was 
convicted of murder and child pornography), pushed to 
retirement following the short period when Dutroux, the most 
notorious of Belgian prisonners, escaped from the Belgian 
police.  However, it was due to a push by De Clerck and the 
work of the Dutroux Commission that a more rapid reform of 
the judicial system was begun. 
 
De Clerck was president of the CVP (and subsequently the 
CD&V) from 1999 to 2003.  He became president following 
legislative elections in which the Flemish Christian 
Democrats were pushed from power for the first time in 40 
years.  But De Clerck himself remained popular and was able 
to obtain satisfactory results for his party in the communal 
elections of 2000.  The year 2000 was also when he became 
mayor of Kortrijk, a post he still occupies. 
 
As head of the CD&V, De Clerck began the process of renewing 
the party, which started during a party congress at the end 
of September 2001, when the party was renamed the Christian 
Democrats and Flemish party, and also when the party adopted 
a "confederated state" model.  De Clerck was also a senator 
in 2003 and 2004, and is a member of Parliament. 
 
Post adds that De Clerck was an International Visitor (IV) 
grantee in 1992, is generally pro-U.S., and is a basketball 
fan. 
 
 
¶6.  Unofficial bio of Minister of Interior Guido De Padt 
(unofficial translation from the French by Embassy Brussels, 
source: LeSoir.be) 
 
54 years old, member of Parliament of the Open Vld party, is 
frequently cited in the Flemish press. 
 
He succeeds Patrick Dewael, also of the Open Vld, who in turn 
replaces Herman Van Rompuy, who became Prime Minister, as 
Leader of the House in Parliament. 
 
Guido De Padt was born in Geraardsbergen on May 23, 1954.  He 
studied law and was formerly a lawyer, beginning his 
political career in 1982 as a provincial advisor in eastern 
Flanders, and vice-mayor of Geraardsbergen.  From 1994 to 
2000, he was a member of the regional parliament and from 
2001 to 2006 was mayor of Geraardsbergen. 
 
Following the communal elections of 2006, he lost his mayoral 
position to the sp.a party.  He then became vice-mayor in 
charge of culture, tourism, libraries, archives and 
patrimony, as well as president of the CPAS. 
 
De Padt has been a member of the federal Parliament since 
¶2003.  He has been most active in issues relating to road 
safety, mobility, public enterprises, police and public 
safety.  He has pushed for a (service minimum dans les 
services publiques). 
 
He is one of the "champions" of parliamentary questions.  In 
the legislative session from 2003-07, he introduced 743 
questions for the record.  Since November 2007, he has 
alreay submitted an additional 571, roughly one per day, on 
average.  He often also provides press communiques regarding 
his questions, thus keeping himself in the media spotlight. 
 
Post adds that De Padt is from the same region as immigration 
minister Turtelboom and is from the same party, which may 
improve the government's ability to coordinate policies on 
matters that touch both ministries. 
 
¶7.  Post will provide biographic information on Steven Van 
Ackere at a later date.  Van Ackere is also an economist, and 
is from the Brussels region, and also reportedly has good 
contacts with Belgium's francophone community. 
BUSH 
.