Het dramatisch Eerste Ministerschap van Mark Eyskens: een terugblik na twintig jaar
In: Res publica: politiek-wetenschappelijk tijdschrift van de Lage Landen ; driemaandelijks tijdschrift, Volume 42, Issue 4, p. 429-481
ISSN: 0486-4700
The Christian Democrat/Socialist government Martens IV resigned at the end of Mar 1981, because the socialist party could not agree with an urgency plan to reorganize the public finances. Mark Eyskens, Minister of Finance in that cabinet, put together a new government in Apr & succeeded as Prime Minister. Robert Vandeputte, an extraparlementarian & honorary governor of the Central Bank, became the new Minister of Finance. Like preceding governments, the Eyskens cabinet was strongly hampered by deep mistrust between the coalition partners, opposing views between the two communities of Belgium, & disagreements about resolving the socioeconomic crisis. The Eyskens cabinet was particularly confronted with the organization of a restructured steel mill, increasing unemployment benefits, & the collapse of fiscal revenues. By mid-Sept, the government fell. Parliamentary elections were advanced to Nov. The Christian Democrats lost a considerable number of seats. A Christian-Democrat/liberal cabinet, again headed by Wilfried Martens, emerged by mid-Dec. It adopted a neoliberal policy, & Mark Eyskens became the Minister of Economic Affairs in the new government. Adapted from the source document.