Dusk falling on Belgian PM

Could it be that next week's European Council (13-14 March) will be Guy Verhoftstadt's last? The Belgian prime minister is supposed to hand over the reins of government to Yves Leterme on 20 March, but, then again, he has been supposed to do that since the general election of last June. The European Council of 21-22 June 2007 was widely expected to be Verhoftstadt's last, but he has lived on for another four meetings of the Council, three in Brussels and one in Lisbon. Since becoming prime minister in July 1999, Verhofstadt has notched up 30-odd meetings of the European Council. The sequence looks as if it will come to an end next week, but since everything depends on Belgian politics, don't bet on it.