Belgium swings to the right with free-market liberal premier; 2nd francophone leader in a row
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Belgiim's King Philippe has sworn in a center-right government under the leadership of Francophone free-market liberal Charles Michel on Saturday, ending a four-month deadlock.
Despite an overwhelming victory of the Dutch-speaking N-VA nationalists, the party allowed a French-speaker to lead the linguistically divided nation for the second time in a row. The four-party coalition will back the business-friendly policies that N-VA leader Bart De Wever has long pushed in the face of the former socialist-led government.
Three parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders and Michel's francophone liberal party, MR, took until Friday to divvy up the portfolios with the foreign affairs post staying with MR veteran Didier Reynders.
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With the socialists sidelined, the government will be looking for austerity measures and some 8 billion euros to reach a balanced budget by 2018.