Belgium's King Albert asked parliamentary speaker Herman Van Rompuy yesterday to form a new government to end the third political crisis in a year and respond to a looming recession. "He has accepted this assignment," the palace said in a short statement.
Flemish Christian Democrat Van Rompuy (61) is president of the lower house of parliament. He faces the twin challenges of bridging the nation's linguistic divide and tackling the fallout from the global financial crisis.
He is set to succeed fellow Christian Democrat Yves Leterme whose government collapsed on December 19th after the supreme court said there were clear indications of political meddling in a court ruling over the bailout of stricken bank Fortis.
Mr Van Rompuy has the reputation of being an intellectual and a budgetary hardliner. He was finance minister between 1993-1999 and reduced Belgium's debt sharply from some 130 per cent of gross domestic product in his first year in office.
He has also expressed doubts about government plans to spend its way out of the recession.
Mr Van Rompuy's appointment follows a six-day mediation mission by former prime minister Wilfried Martens. Belgian media said Mr Martens's biggest task was persuading a reluctant Mr Van Rompuy to accept the job.
"It is a bit of a surprise as he was refusing to do it. I think the pressure on Van Rompuy was huge," said Carl Devos, political scientist at the University of Ghent.
"He has respect from all parties . . . [but] this is certainly not the easiest time to be taking over.
The Christian Democrat statesman was the only figure acceptable to all members of the five-party coalition, being respected in the Dutch- and French-speaking parts of the linguistically divided nation. -