World Notes BELGIUM

Belgium is a land of 5.6 million Dutch-speaking Flemings, 3.2 million French- speaking Walloons and, since World War II, no fewer than 33 governments. Most of those formed since the late 1960s have faltered over the contentious question of who should speak what language where. Last week the issue claimed its latest victim as Prime Minister Wilfried Martens resigned.

Martens, a Dutch-speaking Christian Democrat, threw in the towel after it became clear that his four-party, bilingual governing coalition was about to dissolve. The issue: what to do about Jose Happart, the acting mayor of Les Fourons, a small French-speaking town in Dutch-speaking Flanders. Happart refuses to take a Dutch-language competency test to prove his compliance with a law requiring that public officials conduct business in the language of ^ their regions. French speakers reject the Flemish court ruling that introduced the competency tests; Dutch speakers want Happart removed from office.

Later in the week Martens put together a new government. His mandate: devise constitutional changes that might help resolve the language impasse.