Many would see it as a humiliation, but for Belgium it's an excuse for a party: the country's citizens are marking 249 days without a government on Thursday, a figure that they are treating as a world record.
Day to day the crisis pits the leaders of 6 million Dutch-speaking Flemings against those of 4.5 million French speakers, but people from across the country are putting aside differences to celebrate the occasion.
In Dutch-speaking Ghent, organisers hope 249 people will strip naked to mark the days of the crisis as part of a party expected to draw thousands. There will be free fries, Belgium's beloved national dish, in Leuven and lots of Belgian beer in the French-speaking student town of Louvain-la-Neuve.
"Finally world champion" the usually serious De Standaard headlined its Thursday edition, tongue firmly in cheek.