Belgium's new rainbow government spans six parties in linguistic divide

King Albert of the Belgians yesterday swore in a new rainbow government drawn from six parties.

They come from three political families, which mirror each other on either side of the country's linguistic divide between Flemish and French-speaking communities. This means the new government includes two liberal parties, two socialist parties, and two sets of Greens.

The agreement among the six groups marks the historic exiling to the backbenches of the Social Christians for the first time in 40 years. This was the party of the former prime minister, Mr JeanLuc Dehaene.

Many hope it will also be a landmark passage out of an era of crisis and demoralisation for the whole of Belgian society.

The new Prime Minister is the leader of the Flemish Liberals (VLD), Mr Guy Verhofstadt (46), a lawyer from Ghent. A noted whizz-kid, he entered politics as a student, became a municipal councillor at 23 and party leader at an unprecedented 29.

In 1985, at 32, he became Belgium's youngest vice-premier, overseeing an austerity budget and pushing through privatisations under the premiership of Mr Wilfried Martens.

His radical free-market approach earned him the nickname of "baby Thatcher", but the Martens government fell in 1987 and Mr Verhofstadt found himself in opposition.

He failed in 1991 and 1995 to garner enough support to form a government, and exiled himself for a year in Tuscany where he read Italian literature, rode his bicycle and enjoyed the local wine.

Returning to politics in June 1997, he resumed leadership of his party, moving it closer to a Blairite position and in two years had brought it election victory.

The liberals (VLD and PRL) have the lion's share of portfolios, taking seven full ministries, followed by the socialists (SP and PS) with six and the Greens (Agalev and Ecolo) two. New to power, the Greens will occupy one of the four vice-premierships.

The six parties, which have a 19-seat majority in the 150-seat lower house, held their respective congresses on Saturday to approve the coalition and an 11-chapter programme for government, which notably calls for the "gradual phasing out" of nuclear power.

The programme also provides for a liberalisation of the electricity sector, with a new wave of privatisations in the pipeline. The state telecommunications company, Belgacom, could be rapidly sold off.

They also agreed to safeguard social security spending, cut labour costs and increase health spending.

In the regional parliaments in Flanders and Brussels, the mathematics of coalition are more delicate than at national level. This has meant the same parties have had to cede places in cabinet to the Flemish nationalist Volksunie, seen by some as a potentially destabilising element.

The danger is that the latter will be forced by a radicalised opposition, both Social Christian (CVP) and far-right Vlaams Blok, to raise volatile inter-community issues. But overall the verdict is positive, north and south.

In the words of Le Soir: "It's new, it's interesting, and it's a demonstration that the feelings of the electorate have been taken seriously. Indeed it was indispensable because, the dioxin scandal notwithstanding, the country and its regions badly needed to break with an era when political activity appeared pointless to most, bereft of programmes and convictions."

The only problem at the weekend was a rebellion by the Green rank and file in the Brussels region where, despite the entreaties of their leaders, they rejected participation in the regional government.

The liberals and socialists still have a majority in the city but the latter's refusal to give up a full cabinet seat to the Greens means they will join the ranks of the opposition.