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BRUSSELS  - Belgium finally swore in a prime minister and cabinet on Tuesday after a record-breaking 541 days without a government but they face an uphill battle to tackle problems at the root of the deadlock.

 

"I swear fidelity to the king, obedience to the constitution and to the laws of the Belgian people," Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said in the country's three languages -- French, Dutch and German -- with his right hand raised.

 

The ceremony, led by King Albert II at his palace, ends one of Belgium's bleakest moments, an 18-month marathon of political haggling in which the monarch worked to steer feuding politicians back to the negotiating table.

 

With Di Rupo sporting his trademark red bow-tie, the 12 cabinet ministers in what is already being called "the bow-tie" coalition -- six from the Dutch-speaking north, six from the French-speaking south -- then took the oath.

 

As divisions sharpen between the thriving north and more down-at-heels south, the country that plays host to global institutions such as the EU and NATO is struggling to remain united around a joint political and economic vision.

 

In much the same way prosperous Germany derides spendthrift Greece, the 6.5 million people of Flanders resent funding the 4.5 million of southern Wallonia.

 

Notably absent from the six-party coalition built by Di Rupo, who will be the first openly gay premier of the country, is the biggest party in Flanders, the powerful separatist N-VA which pulled out of the lengthy coalition talks.

 

Latest polls show it garnering between 35 and 40 percent of Flemish voters.

 

Yet Di Rupo will be Belgium's first French-speaking premier in more than three decades and the first Socialist at its helm since 1974.

 

He will also be one of Europe's sole three centre-left leaders -- with Austria and Denmark -- attending this week's crucial EU summit.

 

"The new team, especially its leader, comes carrying a huge burden," said an editorialist in Flemish daily Gazet van Antwerpen.

 

"Belgians want to believe in fairy tales," quipped French daily Le Monde.

 

It took soaring borrowing costs and a Standard & Poor's downgrade from AA+ to AA late last month to jolt Belgian politicians to put aside their differences and clinch a coalition deal.

 

Top of the agenda for Di Rupo when he outlines the new government's policy to parliament Wednesday will be a planned 11.3 billion euros in budget cuts, the toughest austerity measures in 70 years.

 

With debt at 96 percent of GDP last year, just behind Greece and Italy in the eurozone, the coalition has pledged to balance the books by 2015 but many economists say Belgium might not achieve the 0.8 percent growth the budget foresees.

 

The government, an unlikely alliance of Socialists, Christian Democrats and Liberals from both sides of Belgium's language divide, also plans further devolution of powers to regional assemblies.

 

But having already lost a year a half to the haggling, Di Rupo has only two and a half left "which is very little to clean up public finances, adapt our socio-economic model to the 21st century and implement a reform of the state," said an editorial in the French daily Le Soir.

 

The future "will be anything but a picnic," added La Libre Belgique.

 

Di Rupo, a career politician with a rags-to-riches life story, also comes burdened with controversially poor Dutch.

His thick, laboured accent is all the talk in the media, particularly after mixing his verbs in a recent speech by calling on Belgians to drink (drinken) when he meant to say it was urgent (dringen) to agree to austerity.

 

"I'm going to work on it," Di Rupo promised. "I will reply in Dutch in parliament, even with mistakes."

 

"My Nigerian maid who's only been in the country for two years speaks better Dutch than Elio," said separatist N-VA leader Bart De Wever.

 

Commentators on French-language RTL television hailed Di Rupo for taking the oath in three languages and pointed out that it was the French-speakers who had sworn allegiance in two languages, not the Dutch-speakers.

 

Storybook life

 

Elio Di Rupo, who becomes Europe's second openly gay government leader when sworn in Tuesday as Belgium's new premier, is a 60-year-old career politician with a storybook background.

 

Born to an Italian coalminer father and illiterate mother in a 1951 migrant shanty-town, Di Rupo will be the first French-speaking leader of language-divided Belgium in more than 30 years and its first Socialist prime minister in almost four decades.

 

A statement from Albert II's palace said late Monday: "The King this evening received Elio Di Rupo at Belvedere castle and named him prime minister."

 

He takes over from Flemish centre-right caretaker premier Yves Leterme after negotiating an end to the longest political impasse in the country's history -- a dubious world record 541 days without a government.

 

Ironically, financial markets helped Di Rupo conclude the 18 months of tortuous negotiations, when a sudden credit downgrade from AA+ to AA lent new urgency to talks between six parties to finalise a coalition deal.

 

Ridiculed for his poor command of Dutch, spoken by 60 percent of the country's 10.5 million people, Di Rupo brought together three French-speaking parties with three from wealthier Flanders, where separatists are fast gaining a deep hold.

 

"The agreement is fragile and the cultural gap within Belgium is deepening. It won't be a party," warned analyst Pascal Delwit.

 

The new coalition notably excludes a powerful pro-independence Flemish party that won the majority of votes in Flanders at the last June 2010 elections.

 

One of the few centre-left voices in crisis-hit Europe, the soft-spoken politician with the mop of dark hair and craze for bow-ties takes office committed to cutting 11.3 billion euros off the national budget despite trade union anger.

 

No stranger to hardship, Di Rupo claims to have saved the best of the welfare system in Belgium's upcoming budget.

 

The last of seven children, he was a year old when his father died and was left in the care of his mother while brothers and sisters were farmed off to welfare institutions.

 

Biographers claim he owned a single pair of trousers, while one of his former teachers said he admitted when a teenager to "having two shirts and two pairs of pants my mother washes constantly".

 

The young Di Rupo was bright, a talented orator, and a natural leader, the teacher said. He went on to university, graduating with a PhD in chemistry.

 

By then Di Rupo was involved in leftwing politics, joining the Socialist party at age 17.

 

In 1999, he took its helm, winning consecutive seats as member of parliament, senator, European MP, deputy premier, head of the southern government of Wallonia and mayor of the city of Mons.

 

Like Iceland's Johanna Sigurdardottir, Di Rupo, a quiet if forceful politician, is discreet about his sexuality, keeping his private life private in a country where the issue triggers little talk.

 

According to a just-released book of interviews, he came out a little by chance in the mid-1990s after being wrongly accused of abuse during the scandal caused by Belgian serial child killer Marc Dutroux.

 

He is quoted as saying: "'This is totally false,' I said as a crowd of journalists milled around. One of them said: 'But people say you're homosexual?' I turned around and said 'Yes. So what?' I'll never forget that instant. After my reply everything went silent. It was a sincere reply, the truth.'"

 

Tactically astute, Di Rupo has been hailed for striking coalition deals that kept his party in office in a string of governments. He also successfully steered it through a series of devastating corruption scandals.

 

But his one black mark is his controversially poor Dutch.

 

His thick laboured accent is all the talk in the media, particularly after mixing his verbs in a recent speech by calling on Belgians to drink (drinken) when he meant to say it was urgent (dringen) to agree to austerity.

 

"He's ready to be prime minister, apart from his Dutch," said the biggest Flemish daily Het Laasste Nieuws.

 

"I'm going to work on it," Di Rupo promised. "I will reply in Dutch in parliament, even with mistakes." — Agence France Presse