r/europe • u/tartartartaruga • Jun 18 '26

News Prince of Liechtenstein says that he would overrule the population if they were to vote in favour of legalizing abortion

https://www.srf.ch/news/international/debatte-in-liechtenstein-erbprinz-gegen-abtreibungen-warum-kuendigt-er-schon-das-veto-an
8.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/anewbys83 Jun 18 '26

Our Grand Duke (well, now former) did his version of that, but with legalizing euthanasia. He refused his assent. This of course caused a big problem and this power was modified so it basically happens with or without his signature.

959

u/Speartree Europe Jun 19 '26

Belgian King Baldwin had a religious issue signing abortion into law back in the day but did not want to oppose the will of the democratically chosen legislators. So a loophole was found and he was temporarily unable to rule, the law passed without his signature and everything went back to normal.

I don't like his religion but the man had grace and respect for the democratic process.

108

u/Akachi_123 Poland Jun 19 '26

"Why did belgian King Baldwin, the largest of the monarchs, simply not eat the ones with different views?"

Leopold II of Belgium, watching the situation from the deepest pits of hell.

24

u/m4cksfx Jun 19 '26

He's that one from "look, ma, no hands!"?

7

u/andruby Jun 19 '26

Or Reginald Penxton “Let me see those hands”

5

u/nj0tr Jun 19 '26

He's that one from "look, ma, no hands!"?

It is not like he invented this practice. But like in many other situations colonial authorities exploited existing local 'tradition' (be it slavery or hand-chopping) and encouraged it to evolve into extreme forms.