Conservative Bart De Wever was sworn in on Monday as Belgium’s new prime minister, after striking a hard-fought coalition deal that moves the country to the right.
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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 and 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.
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