Right from the start, politicians started picking out scapegoats. The coalition party Open VLD is to blame, some say, because it withdrew its confidence in the federal government. Or the French-speaking liberal MR is at fault for stubbornly refusing to reach any agreement on BHV. Or did the blame lie with Leterme’s own party, CD&V, for stirring up tension with French speakers during its 2007 campaign?

Yet others point out that previous governments – which included liberals and socialists – created the BHV issue by inadequately reforming the constituencies. At the same time, a popular movement is taking shape in which people are blaming all politicians and refusing to vote.

This crisis also spells the end of Yves Leterme as prime minister. Leterme voluntarily made way for Marianne Thyssen as party leader. This may seem like a noble gesture, but it is also convenient for a party known for patricide (killing off its own leaders).

Moreover, by not running for a senate seat, Leterme avoids comparisons between the number of votes he will receive this time and the phenomenal 800,000 he got in 2007. Another plus: unlike Leterme, CD&V party president Marianne Thyssen has not been tainted by this crisis, so she still has some credibility when quoting the new message of CD&V having a “sense of responsibility”.

How will we look back on prime minister Yves Leterme? Commentators compare him to Leo Tindemans, who was prime minister between 1974 and 1978. Tindemans was even more popular than Leterme: he became known as the “one million vote man”. As prime minister, he rejected the Egmont pact – an agreement between Dutch- and French-speaking party leaders (which would have included the splitting of BHV in 1978!) – which marked the fall of his government.

For his dramatic move, Tindemans used words that would become legendary: “The constitution is not a paper rag.” Despite that, he was shunned ever after, since most politicians considered him untrustworthy. He never became prime minister again.

Most people believe that the politicians of the 1970s and ’80s, such as Tindemans, acted irresponsibly, spending all their energy on language squabbles rather than on more pressing problems, such as the economy and a derailing budget. Ouch! It may also be the very reason that CD&V has chosen “responsibility” as its campaign theme: to mark the end of another such era.