The Leterme II Government was the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

from 25 November 2009 to 26 April 2010, and the

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

until 6 December 2011. It took office when the Flemish Christian Democrat

Yves Leterme Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (; born 6 October 1960 in Wervik) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium, from November 2009 to December 2011. Leterme was th ...

(

CD&V Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism (ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party w ...

) was sworn in as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

. It followed the Van Rompuy I Government which ended when Herman Van Rompuy became the first

President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as ...

. It comprised five parties: the Dutch-speaking

Christian Democratic and Flemish Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism (ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party w ...

(CD&V), the Dutch-speaking

Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats french: Libéraux et démocrates flamands ouverts , abbreviation = Open Vld , logo = , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Egbert Lachaert , foundation = 1992 (VLD)2007 (Open Vld) , predecessor = P ...

(Open VLD), the French-speaking liberal

Reformist Movement The Reformist Movement (french: Mouvement Réformateur, MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium. MR is traditionally a conservative-liberal party, but it also contains social-liberal factions. The party is in coalition as ...

(MR), the French-speaking

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

(PS) and the French-speaking

Humanist Democratic Centre Humanist Democratic Centre (french: Centre Démocrate Humaniste, CDH) was a Christian democratic and centrist French-speaking political party in Belgium. The party originated in the split in 1972 of the unitary Christian Social Party (PSC-CVP) w ...

(CDH).

Composition

The Leterme II Government originally comprised 15 ministers, seven secretaries of state, and a government commissary.

Changes in composition

On 14 February 2011,

Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician serving as the president of the European Council since 2019. He previously served as the prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Michel became the minister of Developm ...

resigned as minister of Development Cooperation to become Chairman of the MR. He was replaced as minister in the Leterme II

by secretary of state for European Affairs Olivier Chastel, who became minister of Development Cooperation and European Affairs. Chastel was not replaced as secretary of state.

Crisis

From the start of the Leterme I Government, the problem of the electoral district of

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde The area within Belgium known as Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde encompasses the bilingual—French and Dutch— Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides with the arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and the surrounding Dutch-speaking area of Halle-Vilv ...

caused problems between the coalition partners. The

Constitutional Court of Belgium The Constitutional Court (Dutch: , french: Cour constitutionelle, german: Verfassungsgerichtshof) plays a central role within the federal Belgian state. This is a judicial court founded in 1980. Its jurisdiction was augmented in 1988 and 2003. H ...

had judged in 2003 that the rules applying to the electoral district violated the non-discrimination principle. When no solution was found, the

quit the coalition. Leterme offered his resignation to King

Albert II of Belgium , house = Belgium , father = Leopold III of Belgium , mother = Astrid of Sweden , birth_date = , birth_place = Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium , death_date = , death_place = , signature = Albert II of Belgium Signat ...

on 22 April 2010. On 26 April 2010, after a final round of consultations by

Didier Reynders Didier Reynders (; born 6 August 1958) is a Belgian politician and a member of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) serving as European Commissioner for Justice since 2019. He held various positions in public institutions before becoming a member of ...

failed, the king accepted the resignation. New elections were held on 13 June 2010. As of 26 April 2010 the Leterme II government became a

until it was succeeded by the Di Rupo I Government.

References

{{Belgian governments Belgian governments 2009 establishments in Belgium 2010 disestablishments in Belgium Cabinets established in 2009 Cabinets disestablished in 2010