BELGIAN KING SEEN ACCEPTING GOVERNMENT RESIGNATION
King Baudouin is expected to accept the
resignation of Belgian Prime Minister Wilfried Martens's
centre-right coalition government after last-ditch talks failed
to solve a language row, state-run RTBF radio said.
    The King could ask Martens or another political leader to
put together a new government or to form a caretaker
administration with elections at the end of November or in
early December.
    The King has so far withheld a decision on whether to
accept the resignation last Thursday of Martens's coalition of
Dutch and French speaking parties over the linguistic conflict.

    Martens has used the breathing space to try to put together
a compromise solution but RTBF and the Belgian news agency
Belga said leading ministers ended their talks early on Monday
morning without agreement.
    "The resignation of the government will no doubt be accepted
by the King in the near future," RTBF said.
    The King has no formal deadline for announcing his decision
but has been widely expected to do so on Monday.

 Reuter
