Belgium has a new prime minister, Bart De Wever, whose political purpose has long been to break up the nation, gut state structures, and grant more autonomy to his northern Flanders at the expense of other regions.

De Wever took the oath early Monday, pledging allegiance to King Philippe, a monarch he once held in disdain for symbolizing Belgian unity.

“I swear allegiance to the king,” De Wever declared during the ceremony at the Royal Palace.

This marks a significant shift, as bold demands for Flemish independence have given way to hopes for gradual change and a renewed balance between Dutch-speaking Flanders (6.7 million people), francophone Wallonia (3.7 million), and multilingual Brussels (1.2 million).

The prime minister and leading ministers took the oath in both Dutch and French, while several others on the 15-member team from both sides of the linguistic divide stuck to their own language during the short ceremony.

De Wever, leader of the Flemish nationalist N-VA party, succeeds Alexander De Croo, who has remained in office as a caretaker since the June elections last year. De Wever will join his fellow European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels later Monday.

“We will have a government that will clean up the budget, implement a fair social policy, reward work, implement the strictest migration policy ever, abolish the nuclear phase-out, and invest in safety,” N-VA said in a statement.

One issue that immediately stood out was gender balance. While De Croo had achieved near parity between men and women on his team, De Wever's team includes only three women out of 15 members, with none among the four vice premiers. De Wever expressed regret but did not prioritize this issue during coalition talks.

De Wever managed to bring together an eclectic mix of five parties to break a seven-month deadlock in coalition talks. The Flemish nationalist was given a chance to broker a coalition because the PS socialists, De Wever's political nemesis, lost their generations-long grip on Wallonia. This allowed him to secure a deal with the free-market MR party.

In Flanders, the Vooruit socialist party will work to ensure the cornerstones of Belgium's welfare society survive. The government program aims to cut social benefits to tackle the nation’s debt-burdened budget. Belgium's debt totals just over 100% of GDP, placing it among the worst in the 27-nation EU.

With Vooruit on board, the francophone MR liberals, the centrist CD&V and Engages, and the N-VA complete the coalition, controlling 81 of 150 seats in the House for a comfortable majority.

The length of coalition talks highlighted the difficulty in bridging fundamental gaps between the different parties. (ILKHA)