Belgium P.M. to be sworn in after 541 days

BRUSSELS (AP) ― Belgium’s soon-to-be prime minister set up a slimmed-down coalition Monday, in one of the final steps before his team formally ends the record 541 days the country has gone without a government.

The swearing-in on Tuesday will be a long-awaited relief to the entire nation of 6.5 million Dutch speakers and 4.5 million French speakers who long ago grew frustrated with the deadlock between politicians over linguistic differences.

One radio presenter finally shaved off the beard he has grown for almost a year to protest the drawn-out coalition negotiations, an unofficial world record.

“I won’t do it again, never again,’’ Koen Fillet said after he was soaped, shaved and splashed with after-shave in a show webcast live.

Elio Di Rupo will be the first French-speaking prime minister in almost 40 years. Outgoing Vice Premier Laurette Onkelinx said the grand coalition of Socialists, Christian Democrats and Liberals, each split in Dutch- and French-speaking parties, will include only 13 full ministers.

The final stretch was drawn-out, in keeping with entire process: An all-night negotiating session to decide which party would claim what post ended Monday afternoon.

Di Rupo is to visit King Albert II late Monday and gather his new ministerial team for the swearing in ceremony.

At that point, the government has a lot of catching up to do, especially when it comes to the economy.

Just ten days ago the credit rating of Belgium was downgraded, when high debt caught up with extended indecision on the government makeup. One day later, Di Rupo and his partners had agreed on a budget meant to meet the demands of the European Union and calm nervous markets.

The EU welcomed the breakthrough and said EU officials would soon review the budget text to see if it meets the recommendations of fiscal rigor and increased competitiveness.

i Rupo said that next year’s budget will have a deficit of 2.8 percent of GDP to remain within the EU target. He called the11.3 billion euro ($14.95 billion) in austerity measures a step toward assuring a balanced budget in 2015 and the toughest measures taken by the nation in some 70 years.

Belgium has had only a caretaker government since June 13, 2010, as a series of negotiators tried and failed to bridge the divide between the country’s linguistic groups.