Belgium moves to the right as new PM De Wever sworn in

BRUSSELS

New Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, left, walks with Belgium's King Philippe, center, during a swearing in ceremony for the new government at the Royal Palace in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.

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

Struck late on Jan. 31 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 headed straight to a gathering of EU leaders a few blocks away, for talks on defense 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.

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 center-right Reformist Movement.

Together, they hold an 81-seat majority in Belgium's 150-seat parliament.

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.