BELGIUM'S Prime Minister, Mr Jean Luc Dehaene, has found himself cast in the unlikely guise of the absolutist French monarch Louis XIV by angry fellow countrymen and the cartoonists of the national press, following his ruthless seizure of controls over the country's economy to prepare it for the EU's single currency.
The man spurned by the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, two years ago for the presidency of the European Commission is now arguably the most powerful domestic politician in Europe. Three laws just passed in the Belgian parliament give him executive power to raise taxes, cut social security budgets and even set wage levels without prior consultation.
Following a performance which has annoyed the normally phlegmatic Belgians and seen his approval rating plummet to less than 20 per cent in opinion polls, Mr Dehaene has insisted there is no alternative if the Belgian economy is going to meet the Maastricht criteria for joining the single currency in just over two years.
The Government insists it must make ready as all its closest neighbours and trading partners - such as Germany and France - are likely to be in the first wave of countries to join.
In a pugnadous press conference in Brussels on Friday, Mr Dehaene insisted he was determined to press ahead with strict budgetary reforms.
The crisis atmosphere was diluted as the prime minister announced that his government would be taking three weeks' holiday like the rest of the country.
Mr Dehaene said: "You can judge us when we have finished - and we will finish the job." He added imperturbably: "What would you be saying if exhausted ministers were taking decisions while the Olympic Games were on, or taking advantage of other people being on holiday?"
Belgium's debt stands at 133 per cent of gross national product by far the highest figure of any EU member state. That will have to be reduced to 60 per cent to qualify for membership of EMU.
Mr Dehaene's move shows how far some member states are prepared to go for economic and monetary union, even at the risk of creating social tension, as happened in France last year.