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Originally Posted by Durham
Is this apology a personal initiative of The King or does it have to be sanctioned by the Belgium Government?
I'm unsure of the constitutional rules in Belgium. I do know that something like this could only happen in the UK at the suggestion of the government.
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The only written provisions in the Constitution about ministerial responsibility for the acts of the King, which are actually stronger than in the UK, are:
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Art. 88. La personne du Roi est inviolable; ses ministres sont responsables.
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Art. 106. Aucun acte du Roi ne peut avoir d'effet, s'il n'est contresigné par un ministre, qui, par cela seul, s'en rend responsable.
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There are no explicit provisions about oral or non-official statements by the King (Art. 106 applies basically to royal decrees and orders), but I would assume the King would not have made a statement like that without first consulting the government, especially the foreign minister and the prime minister. What I really don't know is if the government advised him to make the statement, or if he decided to do it on his own initiative, but cleared it with the government first. Perhaps someone who lives in Belgium may have additional information.
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