Belgium on Monday turned to a veteran politician to broker a new government after a scandal over the botched bailout of the Fortis bank forced the ruling coalition to resign.
King Albert II accepted the government's resignation after three days of negotiations with Belgium's political leaders failed to keep the coalition intact. In a bid to avoid early elections, he asked former Premier Wilfried Martens to act as a go-between to broker a new coalition.
"It is an exploratory task to try and seek agreement," Martens said.
Martens, an eight-time prime minister who led coalition governments during the 1980s, is not expected to lead the new coalition. Instead, the elder statesman will try to seek common ground between the six major parties and quickly form a new coalition to deal with the global financial crisis.
The government of outgoing Prime Minister Yves Leterme has been accused of trying to influence an appeals court as the state tries to sell most of Fortis, once the country's largest bank, to France's BNP Paribas. Thousands of jobs are at risk, and many Belgian shareholders have seen their stakes become nearly worthless.
The scandal led to the resignation of the country's justice minister Friday, followed by Leterme's offer to have the government resign.
The separation of powers is a cornerstone of Belgian parliamentary democracy, and the purported attempts by the government to influence the judicial process infuriated partners in an already shaky coalition government.
In a statement, Leterme denied any wrongdoing.
"I insist that at no moment there was any attempt to influence, let alone attempt to obstruct, due process," Leterme said. Nonetheless, he said he would not serve in the new coalition.
Most observers have ruled out early elections because of the pressing need for government action to counter the financial crisis.
Instead, several scenarios are considered, from an interim government until new elections to coincide with the European Parliament polls in early June or a full-blown government to rule the rest of the legislature until 2011.
Leterme headed a coalition of Christian democrats, liberals and socialists, split into Dutch-speaking and Francophone parties.
The Fortis case had been one of Leterme's biggest tests since he became prime minister in December 2007. The formation of his coalition ended six months in which Belgium had no government. No party won a clear majority in the June 2007 elections.
The major parties are expected to quickly form a new government because of the financial crisis.
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