International Leaders: Belgium

Belgium’s king, Albert II has a mainly ceremonial role in the government. His central function in politics is to assign a political leader to form a new cabinet following an election, resignation of a government, or a no confidence vote of the parliament. Thus, Guy Verhofstadt, Belgium’s Prime Minister is considered its leader for the purposes of this review.

Belgium consists of three regions and has two official languages. In Flanders (in the north), the official language is Dutch; in Wallonia (in the south), it is French; and in Brussels (the capital), both languages are used. There is considerable autonomy within each region, which makes governance more difficult. Also, the country is characterized by decentralized governance. For example, the Belgian press is self-regulated (by the Federation of Editors). Further, Belgium has two separate public broadcasting bodies, each with their own practices. Belgium is ranked 9th in Human Development Index rankings (with a HDI of 0.945), above such countries as the US, Japan, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, and the UK.

Guy Verhofstadt began his political career at a very young age; this brought on the nickname, “Baby Thatcher”. At 29 (in 1982), he was chosen as the president of the Flemish liberal party (PVV). At 33, he became Deputy PM and Minister of Budget. In 1991, he changed the PVV into the VLD (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten), which attracted politicians from other parties. After a failed election, Verhofstadt removed himself from the public eye until 1997 when he returned as the party’s president. In 1999, with the aid of a chance food scandal, his party became the largest and he was elected PM. Verhofstadt also served as President-in-Office of the European Council, where he advocated the “constitutionalisation in the Union”.

Verhofstadt spent his first term as PM trying to increase his popularity by cutting taxes and attempting to boost the economy. This resulted in an unbalanced budget and led to high unemployment and problems in the pension system. Another controversial move was his joining France, Russia, and Germany in opposing the US invasion of Iraq.

Prior to the May 2003 elections, the Socialists and the Liberals renewed their coalition, with Verhofstadt as the PM; the coalition holds about 66 percent of the parliament seats. Interestingly, each main party must represent both the Dutch-speaking Flemish and the French-speaking Walloon communities. As part of his campaigning, Verhofstadt promised to create 200,000 jobs in his second candidacy (that goal will have been missed by about 40 percent). Later, in 2004, Verhofstadt’s candidacy as the next President of the European Commission (the executive branch of the EU) was rejected by British PM Tony Blair and Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi.

During his attempts to improve Belgium’s economy, Verhofstadt has inadvertently worsened the public’s perception of him. For example, in 2005 he planned to increase the Belgian workforce and repair the retiree problem by increasing the minimum retirement age. This move caused a national strike by the country’s three unions and disrupted transportation and postal services.

One of Verhofstadt’s main objectives in the coming months is to improve Belgium’s economy; namely, he seeks to improve the country’s global competitiveness, which has dropped behind faster-growing economies. Thus, Verhofstadt plans to encourage research and development, moderating wage increases, and reducing social insurance taxes; taxes and social security payments comprise 50.2 percent of Belgium's economic output - the fourth-largest share in the EU.

Despite the unpopularity of many of his economic policies, I believe Verhofstadt to be a capable leader. His knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs is comprehensive and he is fairly attentive to the needs of his countrymen. If he can better communicate his plans to the Belgium people and convince them of the need of short-term sacrifices in exchange for long-term benefits, he will have their full support.