Partition of Belgium 196 days, the parties finally succeeded in forming a new government. In December 2008, another crisis related to the Fortis case, erupted, again destabilising the country and resulting in the resignation of Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme. The new Herman Van Rompuy-led government brought a brief period of fragile stability, but ended when Van Rompuy left his office to become the first full-term President of the European Council. The succeeding Leterme II government fell in April 2010 over the lack of progress on resolving the BHV issue. Although most Flemish political parties describe their demands as limited to seeking greater
Luuk van Middelaar Luuk van Middelaar Luuk Johannes van Middelaar (born 9 May 1973 in Eindhoven) is a Dutch historian and political philosopher. From December 2009 to 2014 Van Middelaar was member of the cabinet of Herman Van Rompuy, the first President of the European Council. He is best known for his book "The Passage to Europe" (originally published in 2009; widely translated). Van Middelaar studied history and philosophy at the University of Groningen and the "Centre Raymond Aron" of the "École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales" in Paris. In 1999 his masters thesis ("doctoraalscriptie" in Dutch) "Politicide" was published and awarded