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Viewing cable 09BRUSSELS1592, BELGIUM: LETERME II GOVERNMENT SWORN IN NOVEMBER 25

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09BRUSSELS1592 2009-11-25 15:47 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Brussels
VZCZCXYZ0009
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBS #1592/01 3291547
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADE09249 MSI5653-695)
O 251547Z NOV 09 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9741
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RHEFDHN/DIA DH WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
UNCLAS BRUSSELS 001592 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D COPY TEXT AND SIGNATURE 
STATE PASS EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR BE
SUBJECT: BELGIUM: LETERME II GOVERNMENT SWORN IN NOVEMBER 25 
 
REF: A. BRUSSELS 1582 
     B. BRUSSELS 1579 
 
1. (U) A new Belgian government was sworn in by King Albert 
II on Wednesday, November 25, highlighted by the return of 
Flemish Christian Democrat (CD&V) Yves Leterme as Prime 
Minister, and fellow CD&V member Steven Vanackere replacing 
Leterme as Foreign Minister.  Leterme served as PM from March 
to December 2008 (Leterme I) and as Foreign Minister from 
July 2009 until his return to the PM's office.  The changes 
were necessary due to the selection on November 19 of 
outgoing PM Herman Van Rompuy as the first President of the 
EU Council.  PM Leterme will present his government's 
coalition agreement to Parliament on November 25 or 26, and a 
vote of confidence in the new government will soon follow 
(within 48 hours). 
 
2. (U) The only other cabinet change besides the PM and FM 
positions was the return of CD&V member Inge Vervotte as 
Minister of Public Enterprises and Civil Service, where she 
replaced Vanackere.  Bios of the three new officials are in 
paragraphs 4-10. 
 
3. (U)  Belgium's New Cabinet (title, name, (party)): 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
-- Prime Minister Yves Leterme (CD&V) 
 
-- Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Institutional 
Reform, Didier Reynolds (MR - Francophone Liberal) 
 
-- Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and 
Institutional Reform, Steven Vanackere (CD&V) 
 
-- Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Social Affairs, Public 
Health, and Social Integration, Laurette Onkelinx (PS - 
Francophone Socialist) 
 
-- Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Labor and Equality, 
Migration and Asylum Policy, Joelle Milquet (CdH - 
Francophone Center Humanist) 
 
-- Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Budget, Guy Vanhengel 
(OpenVLD - Flemish Liberal) 
 
-- Minister of Public Enterprises and Civil Service, Inge 
Vervotte (CD&V) 
 
-- Minister of Justice, Stefaan De Clerck (CD&V) 
 
-- Minister of Defense, Pieter De Crem (CD&V) 
 
-- Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, Agriculture, 
and Science Policy, Sabine Laruelle (MR) 
 
-- Minister of Pensions and Large Cities, Michel Daerden (PS) 
 
-- Minister of Climate and Energy, Paul Magnette (PS) 
 
-- Minister of Development Cooperation, Charles Michel (MR) 
 
-- Minister of Interior, Annemie Turtelboom (Open VLD) 
 
-- Minister of Enterprise, Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) 
 
 
BIO: Prime Minister Yves Leterme 
-------------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) Belgian Prime Minister Yves Camille Desire Leterme 
is a member of the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V).  He 
was Belgian Foreign Minister from July 2009 until being sworn 
is as Prime Minister on November 25, 2009, and was Prime 
Minister from March 2008 to December 2008.  Leterme received 
a record breaking number of preferential votes, 800,000, in 
the 2007 general election, the second largest number of votes 
ever gained in the history of Belgian elections.  Following 
that election, the King tasked Leterme with forming a new 
government.  However, Leterme was unable to form a government 
between July and December 2007 due to tensions between the 
Flemish and Francophone parties.  As a result, the King asked 
previous PM Guy Verhofstadt to form an interim government 
until Leterme was able to negotiate an agreement to form his 
own majority coalition, which he did from December 2007 to 
March 2008.  Leterme finally became Prime Minister of a 
five-party coalition on March 20, 2008.  He survived his 
government's first crisis, when his electoral ally, the 
 
Flemish National N-VA, broke with the CD&V because Leterme 
did not succeed in achieving the electoral and government 
competency reforms dear to the N-VA.  In December 2008, 
however, the Leterme government fell under a media and public 
outcry over alleged interference with a court case related to 
the Belgian government's takeover and sale to French bank BNP 
Paribas of the struggling banking group Fortis during the 
international financial crisis.  A parliamentary 
investigation found no evidence of Leterme's alleged 
interference in March 2009, and his replacement as PM, Herman 
Van Rompuy, brought Leterme back into the government as FM in 
July 2009. 
 
5. (SBU)  Leterme became involved in politics when he was 
appointed to the Belgian Federal Parliament's House of 
Representatives in 1997.  He won his own seat in the 1999 and 
2003 elections.  After the defeat of the CD&V in the general 
elections of 2003, he succeeded Stefaan De Clerck as party 
chairman.  He became Flemish Minister-President after the 
regional elections of 2004; his party did very well due to 
the new alliance with the Flemish National N-VA.  He then led 
the same alliance to a resounding success in the federal 
election of 2007.  Leterme has been a member of the West 
Flanders city council of Ieper since 1995, and served there 
as an alderman from 1995 to 2001.  Before entering politics, 
Leterme served as an auditor at the Belgian Court of Audits 
and an EU civil servant. 
. 
6. (SBU) Leterme sees himself as a no-nonsense man.  His 
immense popularity in polls of Flemish voters contrasts with 
the lack of support he has found in the past among his 
political colleagues and Belgium's Francophone citizens. 
Leterme holds a political science degree from the University 
of Ghent.  He speaks Dutch, French, and English.  He was born 
in Wervik, Belgium on October 6, 1960.  He is married and has 
three children.  Leterme enjoys cycling and is a fan of the 
Standard Liege soccer team. 
 
BIO: Vice PM and FM Steven Vanackere 
------------------------------------ 
 
7. (SBU) Before being sworn in November 25 as Vice Premier 
and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Institutional Reform, 
Steven Vanackere (CD&V) was Vice Premier and Minister for 
Public Enterprises and Civil Service and for Institutional 
Reform from July to November 2009.  From June 2007 to 
December to 2008, Vanackere served as the Flemish Regional 
Minister for Welfare, Health, and Family.  He served as a 
member of the Flemish Parliament from June 2004 to June 2007. 
 In 2004, Vanackere served as an advisor to former CD&V 
chairman and Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy and Brussels 
Regional Minister Chabert.  In 2000, he became Deputy 
Director-General of Brussels Transport, resigning in 2005. 
From 1993-2000, Vanackere was Director-General of the Port of 
Brussels. 
 
8. (SBU) Vanackere was born in Wevelgem, Belgium on February 
4, 1964.  He obtained his undergraduate degree in Political 
Science and his Master's in Economics from the Catholic 
University of Leuven in 1985, and his Master's in Law in 
1987.  He speaks Flemish, French, and English.  Vanackere is 
married with no children.  He and his wife live in Brussels. 
He is the son of Leo Vanackere, Provincial Governor of West 
Flanders (1979) and grandson of Wallays Remi, former Mayor of 
Wevelgem. 
 
BIO: Min Civil Service and Public Enterprises Inge Vervotte 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
9. (SBU) Belgium's New Minister of Civil Service and Public 
Enterprises Inge Marie Roger Ghislaine Vervotte, held a 
similar position during the Leterme I government, Minister of 
Public Service and Transportation.  Vervotte, a Leterme 
protegee, started her professional career with the 
Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (ACV).  She became 
known to the public for defending the interests of the Sabena 
Airline workers when the company was liquidated in November 
2001.  Shortly thereafter, she entered politics as a member 
of the CD&V.  In the federal elections of 2003, she was 
elected to the Belgian House of Representatives.  In the 
summer of 2004, she was appointed Flemish Regional Minister 
for Welfare, Public Health, and Family.  After the CD&V 
electoral success in the Belgian Federal elections of 2007, 
she received a place in Parliament, and then joined the 
Leterme government.  As a close Leterme ally, she resigned 
with him in December 2008.  She has served as a Federal 
deputy between her resignation and re-appointment in the 
 
Leterme II government.  She has remained one of the top five 
most popular Flemish politicians throughout this period. 
 
10. (SBU) Inge Vervotte was born in Bonheiden, Belgium on 
December 27, 1977.  She graduated from the Kathoilieke 
Sociale Hogeschool University in Heverlee, Belgium in 1998, 
where she received her degree in social work. 
 
EASON