BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, FEB 3 (AFP/APP): Conservative Bart De Wever was sworn in Monday as Belgium’s new prime minister, after striking a hard-fought coalition deal that moves the country to the right.
Struck late Friday after seven months of tortuous negotiations, the agreement makes De Wever the first nationalist from Dutch-speaking Flanders to be named Belgian premier.
The 54-year-old — who in recent years has backed off on calls for Flanders to become an independent country — took the oath of office before King Philippe, in a ceremony at the royal palace in Brussels.
From there, he was expected to head straight to a gathering of EU leaders a few blocks away, for talks on defence and transatlantic relations.
Split between French- and Dutch-speaking communities and with a highly complex political system, Belgium has an unenviable record of painfully protracted coalition discussions — reaching 541 days back in 2010-2011.
This time around, five groups sought to forge a coalition after June elections that failed to produce a clear majority — with talks led by De Wever’s conservative N-VA which claimed the most seats.
– 60-hour marathon –
The new government brings together three parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders: De Wever’s N-VA, the centrist Christian-Democrats and the leftist Vooruit (Onward).
And it includes two from French-speaking Wallonia: the centrist Les Engages and the centre-right Reformist Movement.
Together, they hold an 81-seat majority in Belgium’s 150-seat parliament.
Coalition talks hit a wall during the summer over the issue of plugging the country’s budget deficit — 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2023.
Belgium is one of seven European Union countries facing disciplinary action for running a deficit above three percent of GDP, in violation of the bloc’s fiscal rules.
De Wever, the mayor of Antwerp since 2013, has pushed for cuts in social benefits and pension reforms that have already sparked opposition from labour unions.
He had threatened to throw in the towel if no coalition deal was reached Friday.
An agreement was struck with just hours to go after a 60-hour marathon session to iron out differences over an 800-page programme.
De Wever’s N-VA was already part of a right-leaning ruling coalition between 2014 and 2018.
He takes over from outgoing prime minister Alexander De Croo, whose seven-party coalition took an arduous 493 days to emerge back in 2019-2020.
De Croo had stayed on as caretaker leader after the June elections.
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