King tells P.M. to try again

Press, 7 October 1980, Page 8

King tells P.M. to try again

.NZPA-Reuter Brussels Belgian politicans took part in intensive discussions yesterday in a bid to reach agreement on Government policies.

The Prime Minister (Mr Wilfried Martens) who offered the Government’s resignation on Saturday, was told by King Baudouin on Sunday to make one final effort to secure agreement among his six coalition parties. The resignation, tendered on Belgium’s 150th anniversary, came about because the two Right-wing Liberal parties wanted greater cuts made in sociaT spending. The Liberals make up . the coalition with French and Flemish-speaking Socialist and Social. Christian parties, and they are worried about the sharp rise in public debt

Political sources said Mr Martens was due to see the King later yesterday to let him know whether agreement had been reached. Mr Martens will not find it easy to bring his coalitionj together again, the sources! say.

> The Prime Minister spent most of Friday night and : Saturday Searching for an i accord before ; handing the 1 Cabinet’s resignation to the : King. But all the parties, whose ■ leaders saw the King at the week-end, are aware of the ■ need to tackle the mounting social and economic, problems, the sources say; The public debt rose to $B3OO million in the first eight months of this year while the balance of payments deficit could reach between $6OOO million and $7OOO million in 1980. On the social front, Mr Martens needs the six parties to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority for devolution plans for Brussels. Some regional powers, for French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking , Flan- ! ders, have already been legislated. Language tensions in Belgium make this an im- , portant political issue. ! The status of Brussels, considered difficult because it has both French and ‘ Dutch speakers in residence, has not yet been tackled.