New Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, a French-speaking Socialist, was sworn in Belgium starting a new full-time government from now on, meanwhile, ending a record-breaking 541 days of political deadlock between the Dutch-speaking north and French south that kindled speculation of a national breakup at the heart of Europe.
The job of keeping Belgium intact and shaving Europe’s fifth-highest debt load falls to a six-party coalition headed by Elio Di Rupo, 60, the first native French speaker to run the country since the 1970s
