Belgium woke up with a splitting political headache Sunday after the PM designate abandoned his attempt to form a coalition from feuding Flemish and francophone parties after almost six months of fruitless talks.
Problems in putting a government together are nothing new in a country so split along its linguistic north-south faultline that both communities have their own newspapers, television channels and political parties. However Sunday marked an unprecedented 175 days without a new government since the general election was held on June 10.
As the political limbo continues, pre-election Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose administration is still running day-to-day affairs, is contemplating the possibility of an unexpected extra Christmas in power.
Yves Leterme, a Christian democrat from the Dutch-speaking majority in the richer northern Flemish region, informed King Albert II on Saturday that he was unable to form a four-party coalition.
"The last weeks and months I have done all I can to bring this task to a successful conclusion," Leterme said in parliament after throwing in the towel.
"Unfortunately that has not been possible. Our country needs a stable government and reforms that will permit it to tackle its problems head on."
The main political bone of contention is the Flemish majority's wish from more autonomy for their region Flanders, a move which many in the poorer francophone region of Wallonia see as both a political and a financial threat.
There are even fears, and hopes, that the country at the centre of European integration could split down the middle. A spokesman for the far-right Vlaams Belang party, which was not involved in the coalition talks, said Leterme's failure to form a government demonstrated that a federal administration was no longer possible.
"I think this has proven that you can't form a government that represents the interests of both the north and south of the country," Senator Joris Van Hauthem, a Flemish separatist, told AFP.
"You don't need to be a separatist to realise that." The communal gulf is deep and enduring. Only the Brussels capital region, ironically the heart of European integration, is officially bi-lingual.
There has not been a French-speaking prime minister since the 1970s.
The resentment among both communities-the tiny German minority rarely gets a look in-began at the founding of the independent Belgian nation in 1830.
French was imposed as the sole official language and by the early 20th century a French-speaking elite dominated Belgian affairs.
When Flemish soldiers went into battle under francophone officers, the stories go, some died because they could not understand the orders. While the relatively wealthy Flemish now rule the Belgian roost, the separatist movement in the north is good at aggravating old communal resentments.
Today the question of Belgian identity is a tricky one. While some outsiders might think of beer, chocolate, waffles and a curious peeing baby statue, inside the squabbling communities it remains hard to pin down. Anyone wandering around certain-namely francophone-Brussels suburbs might think national unity is safe and sound given the numerous black, yellow and red flags fluttering from house and apartment windows.
Head north however and there are plenty of rampant lions on a yellow background-the Flemish flag. Leterme's Christian Democrats have complicated matters further following his decision to give up trying to resolve Belgium's political crisis, vowing that they will not enter any government without him as prime minister.
Leterme himself may be preparing to modify one of Nobel peace prize-winner Al Gore's favourite introductory phrases for use on the lecture circuit: "I used to be the future Prime Minister of Belgium."