The decision by Yves Leterme, Belgium’s prime minister, to tender his resignation has deepened the country’s political crisis. The prime minister bears only limited responsibility for the failure to resolve a long-standing conflict over regional autonomy and electoral reform that still paralyses the nation months after political parties had appeared to break the stalemate. His proffered resignation does nothing to resolve that impasse.

The fissures in Belgium’s five-party coalition government, caused partly by a dispute over voting rules in a part of Flanders close to Brussels, are in large part due to the intransigence of all its politicians. Their behaviour reflects a widening gulf between Belgium’s Dutch-speakers, who live mainly in Flanders, the prosperous north, and its French-speakers living mainly in Wallonia, the south. Mr Leterme had set himself a deadline of Tuesday for resolving the dispute. But the resistance of fellow Christian Democrats and their Flemish nationalist allies, as well as the opposition of French-speakers, left his task impossible. Any successor would find it no less difficult.