BELGIUM'S parliament voted unanimously yesterday to establish a commission to examine allegations that the deputy Prime Minister, Mr Elio di Rupo, had sex with minors, delaying a decision on whether he should face criminal charges.
The move was expected to allow Mr Di Rupo (45), a Socialist who vigorously denies the allegations, to cling to office, staving off an immediate crisis for the scandal-hit coalition government of the Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Luc Dehaene.
The parliament for Belgium's French-speaking community decided to start an identical procedure for Mr Jean-Pierre Grafe, a regional government minister who is the subject of similar charges from the chief prosecutor of Brussels.
The 11-member commission which will examine Mr Di Rupo's case is expected to take several months to decide whether or not he should be indicted. Under the Belgian constitution, its conclusions then have to be approved by the full assembly before Mr Di Rupo can be stripped of his immunity from prosecution.
The parliamentary speaker, Mr Raymond Langendries, who will chair the inquiry, insisted that Mr Di Rupo should benefit from the presumption of innocence and sharply criticised the judiciary over the leaks which have made the allegations against him public.
The Libre Belgique daily reported yesterday that the prosecutor's request was based on testimony from three youths who said they had sex with Mr Di Rupo while they were under the age of consent, which is 16 in Belgium.
Mr Di Rupo, who has never hidden his homosexuality, has vigorously protested his innocence and suggested he has been the victim of a "McCarthyite witch-hunt".
The opening of an inquiry will allow Mr Di Rupo to discover the precise allegations made against him and respond to them.
The allegations against Mr Di Rupo, while unproven, are another severe blow to public confidence in the political establishment, already shaken by charges of incompetence and corruption in its handling of the paedophile scandal.
There is no suggestion of any link between the allegations against Mr Di Rupo and the investigation into the kidnap, abuse and murder of young girls by a paedophile ring allegedly masterminded by convicted child rapist Marc Dutroux. But the huge impact of that case on Belgium has clearly affected the way politicians have responded to this latest scandal.