Albert II of Belgium

...two decades with near-invisibility. According to Geertrui, with whom he has four children, when King Albert II, begged him to become Belgium's prime minister last year, "he did everything he could to get out of it", but felt he had to...

In this article: European Union, Herman Van Rompuy, Baroness Ashton, Tony Blair, Albert II, Brussels, Belgium, Economics, and Banana

During one of his country's episodic constitutional and political crises, he emerged from an emergency meeting with Belgium's King Albert II to make a typically gnomic statement. "Every human being must choose between mystery and the...

In this article: Herman Van Rompuy, European Union, Gordon Brown, Belgium, Europe, Belgian parliament, British Airways, and Reuters

...Rompuy, the outgoing Belgian premier chosen to become the first European Union president at a summit Thursday, met with his cabinet and King Albert II to start the process of finding a successor, without talking to the press. However the...

In this article: European Union, Herman Van Rompuy, Baroness Ashton, Europe, Gordon Brown, Brussels, United States, European Policy Centre, Centre for European Reform, and Wen Jiabao

...among eastern Europeans, Scandinavians and, of course, the British. He has led Belgium for less than a year. He was summoned last December by King Albert II to try to salvage the country amid speculation it might split apart due to tensions...

In this article: Herman Van Rompuy, EU, Belgium, Christian Democratic, Tax, Catholic University of Leuven, and Albert II

...ET," she wrote recently. A year ago, Mr Van Rompuy was drifting towards retirement before he was plucked from obscurity by King Albert II in one the periodic crises that threaten to split the country's Flemish and French-speaking...

In this article: Herman Van Rompuy, European Union, Europe, Belgium, Tax, Reuters, Eric Van Rompuy, and Steven Spielberg

...have thought the best was yet to come." Van Rompuy has been prime minister of Belgium for less than a year, summoned last December by King Albert II, to try to salvage a country plagued by tensions between Dutch-speaking Flanders to the...

In this article: Herman Van Rompuy, EU, Belgium, Christian Democrat, Europe, De Standaard, Catholic University of Leuven, and Tony Blair

...of a moderate in Belgium's increasingly polarised politics, Mr Van Rompuy was eventually persuaded to take on the job by Belgian King Albert II. He was appointed prime minister, having held the position of president of the lower house of...

In this article: Belgium, Christian Democrat, EU, Europe, Fortis, Eric Van Rompuy, and Albert II

...all war dead. In Belgium, which saw some of the fiercest and bloodiest trench warfare on the Western Front during the 1914-1918 war, King Albert II was leading the royal family and government officials in a solemn commemoration in Brussels at...

In this article: Nicolas Sarkozy, World War I, Angela Merkel, Arc de Triomphe, Europe, Germany, France, and European Union