Politics End of politicial crisis in Belgium : new government sworn in under Elio Di Rupo

Belgium now officially has a government. The 541 days of political deadlock have come to an end today as French-speaking socialist Elio Di Rupo was sworn in by King Albert II as the new prime minister. Di Rupo is the son of Italian immigrants from Abruzzo, also known for being gay and behaving stereotypically like one. He is the first Francophone prime minister in Belgium in 47 years. The last one was Edmond Leburton, who only served a one-year term in 1973-74. He was also the last socialist before Di Rupo.

I am not exactly thrilled by the news since the French-speaking socialist party represents everything that is twisted and wrong about Belgium - corruption, monstrous waste of public funds, overly generous nanny state, immigration policy giving priority to refugees and third world uneducated immigrants over qualified workers, etc. ad nauseam.

Belgium has beaten the record for the country which has gone the longest without a government. The previous record was held by Cambodia with 182 days. Belgium did almost exactly three times longer and got a clown as prime minister ! From my point of view Belgium was still better off with a temp government. It feels like things were rushed to deal with the Euro-zone crisis, which is reaching a climax this week.

Maciamo said:

From my point of view Belgium was still better off with a temp government. It feels like things were rushed to deal with the Euro-zone crisis, which is reaching a climax this week.

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I'm inclined to agree. Belgium has done relatively well through the crisis, and I seriously doubt that the Socialist policy that comes from this is going to be a net benefit to Belgium. Especially if there is another downturn, Belgians may quickly realize that no government is better than this government (and they'll have proof!).

No matter the differences in Belgium
it seems like Belgium have been proved the most patriotic among Europeans,

They manage to gather 5,7 billion Eu
an achieve 30 times bigger than the primary target,

the answer from Belgians to the markets and to bankers is that they manage to drop by 4% the interest that markets push (about 5,9%)

a well done by me to their resist to the monster of the markets,

by that they avoid IMF, Merc-ozy solutions and they give a big slap to the markets,

consider that countries with x5, x8 the pop did not manage even to gather the half.

as you see no technocrats needed, no fear needed, no dictators need, no many meetings and lectures,

simply in some countries politicians respect their people, and in some other politicians hate their voters,

Belgians are traditionally trying to avoid taxes and a lot of business is done underground. That generates a lot of money that needs some kind of laundering. As state bonds are bought anonymously and are a fair investment, they normally get bought very easily, not much to do with patriotism, more to do with the ever-shrinking banking secrecy...
About Di Rupo 1, as it is called in the press (like they know it's going to be a Rocky-style series), Belgians have the right to wonder how people who took 400+ days to find a way to start working together would be able to take decisions together. The first problem might well be the last...

Di Rupo's announced reforms include a reduction unemployment benefits and increasing the age of early retirement, as well as generally cutting down on social security and pension allowances. It's ironic that the first socialist government in nearly 50 years will be the one that slash down Belgium's generous social security.