06/12/2011 13:12
Belgium forms new government after long crisis
King Albert II named Elio Di Rupo as the first French-speaking prime minister in nearly 40 years late Monday in one of the final steps before his team formally ends the record 541 days the country has gone without a government, the abcnews.go.com reports.
The swearing-in on Tuesday will be a long-awaited relief to the entire nation of 6.5 million Dutch speakers and 4.5 million French speakers who long ago grew frustrated with the deadlock between politicians over linguistic differences.
The job of keeping Belgium intact and shaving Europe’s fifth-highest debt load falls to a six-party coalition headed by Elio Di Rupo, 60, the first native French speaker to run the country since the 1970s, the bloomberg.com reports.
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