BELGIAN CRISIS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 148, 25 June 1945, Page 5

BELGIAN CRISIS

MESSAGE BY LEOPOLD

NO INDICATION OF INTENTION

TO ABDICATE

(By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright.) Rec. 10.45 a.m. LONDON, June 24.

King Leopold's first pronouncement since the liberation of Belgium, which the Presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies conveyed to the party leaders today, contains no indication of his . intention to abdicate. King Leopold says: "My health being sufficiently restored, my first concern is to regain contact with Parliament. I have been deeply touched by messages from Parliament assuring me that the Senate and the Chamber learned' of my liberation with the liveliest satisfaction." The message goes on to say that the decision of the Van Acker Cabinet to resign the moment he returned to Belgium prevented him meeting Parliament in the normal way, but he wished to congratulate Parliament on re-establishment of Belgium's institutions and constitutional liberties. "Parliament and myself will be animated by a common desire to assure a better future for our country," he added. Brussels radio says that the Belgian Ambassador in London, Baron de Marchienne, is going to Salzburg after having received a summons from King Leopold. A number of Belgian leaders, including the former Prime Minister and the leader of the civil affairs mission, Lieut-General Tschoffen, the former Labour Minister and secretary-general of the Belgian Federation of Labour, M. Bondas, with the directors of the Universities of Brussels and Louvain, left Brussels by air for Salzburg.