No. 16

After three months of weary deadlock, Belgium finally got a new government. It was about time. Its Congo empire lost, its economy lagging, the nation was suffering from a severe crisis of morale. Rich and robust a decade ago, it has become the Common Market's weakest link. Mobs last winter had run through the streets, hurling cobblestones, shouting hate. The two traditional political foes--the Socialists and the Social Christians--bickered on and on. Then last week they buried the hatchet and joined to form a coalition government.

Architect of peace, and Belgium's new Premier, is Theo Lefevre, burly, beak-nosed boss of the Social Christians. At 47, Lefevre belongs to a rising new generation of European leaders, is scarcely known outside his own country. A wartime resistance leader, tough, determined Lefevre entered Parliament at 32 as a fervent royalist. When his party's old guard acquiesced to the Socialists' demand for Leopold III's abdication, Lefevre organized a "Young Turks" revolt, and took over the party leadership. The oldtimers growled, "Let him break his bones on the job." Instead, he built up the Social Christian propaganda apparatus, tightened discipline and led his party in onslaught after onslaught against the Socialists. Those were the long years when no Belgian party could win more than the slimmest majority in Parliament, and the nation fell into a paralyzing attitude of attentisme (wait-and-seeism). In the March elections, both major parties lost ground to extremists of left and right.

Lefevre decided that the time had come to end his long feud with the Socialists. "Belgium must end its violent quarreling, its partisan rivalry, its sterile rancors," he told his followers. "A new generation demands a more farseeing attitude."

Paul-Henri Spaak, who resigned as NATO Secretary-General to take over Socialist Party leadership, was of the same mind. Socialist anger was directed at the previous Social Christian Premier, Gaston Eyskens, who pushed through his emergency economic bill--the hated Loi Unique--against the opposition of many of his own followers. With Eyskens gone, the Socialists were ready to compromise, even agreed to accept some of the Loi Unique's tougher provisions, such as an increased sales tax. Stickiest question was whether the Social Christians would agree to the release of the hundreds of Socialistled rioters who had been jailed in the January rioting. No, said Lefevre, but he appointed a Socialist as Minister of Justice so that paroles could be expedited.

In the new Cabinet, Belgium's 16th since 1945, Socialist Spaak became Vice Premier. He also took over the post of Foreign Minister, incidentally absorbing the Department of Congolese Affairs, which the march of history had now declared superfluous.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.