By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST/BRUSSELS (Worthy News) – Conservative nationalist Bart De Wever has been sworn in as Belgium’s new prime minister after he toned down his rhetoric to make the nation’s Dutch-speaking Vlaanderen (Flanders) region an independent country.
His premiership also followed seven months of tough talks on moving Belgium further to the right, a move welcomed by nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has long been isolated within the European Union.
De Wever and Orbán were already seen smiling at an EU event. The coalition agreement struck Friday allowed the 54-year-old to take the oath of office before King Philippe in a ceremony at the royal palace in Brussels.
From there, he was due to head straight to a gathering of European Union leaders a few blocks away for talks on defense and transatlantic relations. Brussels hosts the EU institutions, including the 27-nation bloc’s European Parliament.
Split between French- and Dutch-speaking communities and with a highly complex political system, Belgium has seen records-breaking protracted coalition discussions – reaching 541 days in 2010-11.
This time, 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).
FRENCH SPEAKING
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 over plugging the country’s budget deficit—4.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2023—hit a wall during the summer.
Belgium is one of seven European Union countries facing disciplinary action for running a deficit above 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), violating the EU’s fiscal rules.
De Wever, the mayor of Antwerp since 2013, pushed for cuts in social benefits and pension reforms that have already sparked opposition from labor unions.
He is also critical of migration, an essential issue in Belgium, where many have arrived from mainly Muslim war-torn and impoverished nations.
De Wever’s N-VA was part of a right-leaning ruling coalition between 2014 and 2018. He takes over as prime minister from Alexander De Croo, whose seven-party coalition took 493 days to emerge in 2019-20.
De Croo had stayed as caretaker leader after the June elections, enabling them to take his time hammering out a complex government agreement.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
A leading Dutch Jewish voice and longtime politician has filed a police complaint against the British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan, after the band’s frontman appeared to urge violence against Jews and to celebrate the recent assassination of born-again Christian influencer Charlie Kirk during a controversial concert in Amsterdam.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the Republican Party will host the first-ever Midterm National Convention in 2026, an unprecedented move in U.S. political history.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Monday formally opened the restored Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem’s City of David, the ancient thoroughfare once used by Jewish worshipers ascending to the Temple Mount during the Second Temple era.
A pastor in Southern California was shot and killed inside his home, authorities and church members said, shocking a close-knit evangelical community in the rural town of Ramona east of the city of San Diego near the U.S.–Mexico border.
Ukraine says Russia’s military has bombarded the southern city of Zaporizhzhia with rockets overnight, killing one person and wounding 13 people, including two children, while another person died and several were injured elsewhere in the country.
The United States and the United Kingdom are set to unveil a wave of major nuclear energy agreements during President Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain this week, in what both governments are calling the start of a “golden age” of nuclear power.
Archaeologists in Turkey have uncovered a 2,050-year-old Roman council hall etched with early Christian carvings, offering fresh historical insight into the biblical church of Laodicea–one of the seven congregations addressed in the Book of Revelation.