By KUNA,
Brussels : Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme offered Monday night his resignation to King Albert II after failing to implement state reforms, local media reported.
Leterme has set a deadline for July 15 to reach a comprehensive accord with his coalition partners on reforms to give more power to the regions but an agreement looked virtually impossible.
He was due to present the accord to parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
King Albert is to decide Tuesday whether to accept the resignation.
Leterm was appointed to head the seven-party coalition government in March following nine months of political impasse.
Belgium is divided into a Dutch-speaking northern region, Flanders, and the French-speaking South, Wallonia.
Leterme was under pressure from within his own Flemish party to give more autonomy for Belgium’s 6.5 million Dutch-speakers and 4 million Francophones. But talks on constitutional reform have been deadlocked for months.
Dutch-speaking Flanders which is more prosperous than Wallonia wants more autonomoy by shifting taxes and some social security measures from the federal to the regional level. It also wants more self-rule in transport, health, labour market and justice areas.
Francophone parties are opposed to this saying that the regions already have enough powers since the mid-1980s.
Linguistic disputes have marred Belgian politics for long time.