Yves Leterme

Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (Dutch: [ˈiːf ləˈtɛrmə]; born 6 October 1960) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008, and later from November 2009 to December 2011.

Leterme has also served as minister of Foreign Affairs, deputy prime minister and minister of Budget, Institutional Reforms, Transport and the North Sea in the Belgian federal government. He is a former minister-president of Flanders and Flemish minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Despite his French name, Leterme is Flemish. He is fluent in Dutch, French and English.

On 14 July 2008, facing the imminent failure to meet a self-imposed deadline to enact "constitutional reform" consisting of further devolution of powers to the nation's three linguistic communities, Leterme tendered his resignation to King Albert II. On 17 July, King Albert, after holding a flurry of consultations with leaders of political parties, labour unions, and the employers' association, rejected Leterme's resignation. Instead, the King appointed a three-person commission of representatives of the linguistic communities to investigate how to restart the reform process. The commission was to report to the King by 31 July 2008.

On 19 December 2008 he offered his resignation to King Albert II after a crisis surrounding the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas. On 22 December 2008 the King accepted his resignation, along with that of his entire government. He remained prime minister until 30 December, when Herman Van Rompuy was appointed as his successor. On 24 November 2009, it was announced that Leterme would once again become prime minister, succeeding Van Rompuy, who had been selected to become the first President of the European Council.