Belgian party demands polls

(First Edition)

Belgian's liberal opposition called for new elections as King Baudouin tried to avert the collapse of the country's year-old coalition government, Reuter reports from Brussels.

The Prime Minister, Jean-Luc Dehaene, offered his resignation on Tuesday after reaching stalemate in negotiations on budget cuts worth 110bn Belgian francs (pounds 2.5bn). The king is consulting political leaders before deciding what to do. Forty-five per cent of Belgians think he should accept Mr Dehaene's resignation, according to a telephone survey published yesterday in the Libre Belgique newspaper.