Yves Leterme
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Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (born 6 October 1960) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). In March 2008, he became the Prime Minister of Belgium. He is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Budget, Institutional Reforms, Transport and the North Sea in the Belgian federal government. He is also a former Minister-President of Flanders and Flemish Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Despite his French name, Leterme is actually Flemish.
On 14 July 2008, facing the imminent failure to meet a self imposed deadline to enact "constitutional reform" consisting of further devolution of powers to the nation's three linguistic communities, Leterme tendered his resignation to King Albert II, the head of state. On 17 July, King Albert, after holding a flurry of consultations with leaders of political parties, labor unions, and the employers' association, rejected Leterme's resignation. Instead, the king appointed a three person commission of representatives of the linguistic communities to investigate how to restart the reform process. The commission was to report to the king by 31 July 2008.
On December 19, 2008 he offered his resignation to King Albert II after a crisis surrounding the selling of Fortis to BNP Paribas.
