Belgium’s first step on the road to real government

“The King of Belgium has asked Elio Di Rupo, a French-speaking socialist, to form a government following the breakthrough in previously-deadlocked talks.

The country has not had a government for 15 months, a world record length of time.

Now Di Rupo is celebrating a degree of agreement, paving the way for what he calls “real coalition talks”. On Wednesday he had said negotiations between the eight bickering party leaders had hit “total blockage”.

“It’s the beginning of a process… a climate of confidence developing between the parties as they try to overcome a whole series of hurdles and move towards forming a government,” said Finance Minister Didier Reynders.

The agreement followed 10 hours of talks, prompted by King Albert flying back home from holiday to bang heads together.”