Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (Dutch: [ˈiːf ləˈtɛrmə]; born 6 October 1960) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V).

On 14 July 2008, facing the imminent failure to meet a self-imposed deadline to enact "constitutional reform" consisting of further devolution of powers to the nation's three linguistic communities, Leterme tendered his resignation to King Albert II.

On 17 July, King Albert, after holding a flurry of consultations with leaders of political parties, labour unions, and the employers' association, rejected Leterme's resignation.

[1] On 19 December 2008 he offered his resignation to King Albert II after a crisis surrounding the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas.

[3] On 24 November 2009, it was announced that Leterme would once again become prime minister, succeeding Van Rompuy, who had been selected to become the first President of the European Council.

Leterme remained as caretaker prime minister, but on 13 September 2011 announced that he would leave the post by the end of the year to take up the position of Deputy Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

[6] On 6 December 2011 Leterme was finally succeeded as prime minister by Elio Di Rupo, ending the longest run of a caretaker government in the developed world.

Before entering national politics, Leterme served as an auditor at the country's Court of Audit (Dutch: Rekenhof, French: Cour des Comptes).

[7] In the elections held on 10 June 2007, Leterme received 796,521 personal votes, leading his party to a landslide victory.

Many French-speaking journalists have taken offence at Leterme's political opinions on the widely supported demand in Flanders for more regional autonomy.

In the Flemish daily De Standaard of 28 August Leterme explained his words: "I am allowed to ask myself the question whether the lack of knowledge of Dutch is a matter of not wanting or not being able to.

"[12] A news report produced by the Belgian Francophone television company RTBF alleged that Leterme said in the Flemish parliament: "I don't need the King".

[17][18][19] Leterme caused controversy again in a December 2007 interview with the Concentra newspapers by denouncing the RTBF for having its own political agenda, being a propagandist for CDH politician Joëlle Milquet and being a relic of the past.

This was one of the greatest monster tallies in recent Belgian history (the previous comparable score was obtained by Leo Tindemans).

[23] On 29 September, Herman Van Rompuy, "explorer" in the coalition seeking process, presented his final report to the King.

[24] On 7 November, his party took the initiative and got the Flemish representatives to vote on the most crucial aspect of the negotiations, the splitting of the electoral region of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, a measure strongly opposed by the Francophone community.

[34] For Leterme, priority issues were still further devolution of power to Belgium's regions, which would require amending the national constitution, and resolving dissatisfaction with the administrative status of the districts of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.

In complicated negotiations regarding the bilingual electoral unit Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde surrounding Belgian capital Brussels a deadline set by government party Open VLD was not met.

On 26 April the resignation was accepted by the King after the appointed mediator Didier Reynders failed in his task and a general election was held in June 2010.

[39] After Elio Di Rupo succeeded him as prime minister, Leterme took up the position of Deputy Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), starting 1 January 2012.

And so after winning the election, Leterme remained active at international level, and third runner up in the party, Jan Durnez became mayor of Ypres instead.

[44] Leterme started a two-day visit to Vietnam Tuesday 11 August 2009 to boost bilateral and multifaceted co-operation between the two countries.

[45] Leterme met with Vietnamese officials to strengthen bilateral relations and co-operation in several sectors including politics, economics, and trade and investment, as well as discussed regional and global issues that are of interest to both sides.

In 2008, two-way trade reached nearly $1.4 billion and Belgium is now Vietnam's fourth largest export market among EU countries.