Economic row topples Belgian Govt again

Press, 6 October 1980, Page 6

Economic row topples Belgian Govt again

NZP-Reuter Brussels Belgian’s six-party coalition Government fell yesterday, throwing the country once more into political crisis.

The Prime Minister (Mr Wilfried Martens) failed to obtain the approval of all the coalition parties for his economic policies. He put the policies to the vote after two Liberal Party leaders threatened to withdraw their groups from the Government because of insufficient cuts in social-

security spending. Mr Martens told reporters he would see King Baiidouin

to submit his Cabinet’s resignation. It was the .twenty-fifth Belgian Government to fall since World War Two and the third headed by Mr Martens since he first became Prime Minister early last year. The Flemish Liberal leader, Willy de Clerq, and the Francophone Jean Gol had said they would vote against Mr Martens’s policies if the national health service debt of more than $lOOO million was not cut.

They insisted on cuts in social-security benefits and

opposed any rises In in« dustry’s social charges. Mr Martens, under pres* sure from the Socialists who were against social-security cuts, refused to modify his plans. Mr -Martens brought the Rightist Liberals into his coalition only five months ago to secure the necessary two-thirds majority to push through devolution proposals. Among Belgium’s most pressing economic problems is its mounting public debt, which rose by $BOOO million in the first eight months of the year.