Yves Leterme is to be Belgium's new prime minister. The five parties in the ruling coalition agreed the move during talks mediated by former prime minister Wilfried Martens.

It was also agreed that another former prime minister, Jean-Luc Dehaene, will help Mr Leterme with the issue of the bilingual electoral district, Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde. The Dutch and French-speaking communities in the district have been embroiled in disputes for years.

Mr Leterme succeeds Herman van Rompuy who is becoming the European Union's first president. Mr Leterme was Belgian prime minister before Mr Van Rompuy but was forced to resign in the wake of the Fortis Bank affair.

photo: Yves Leterme (Flickr / agriflanders) and Herman van Rompuy (Flickr / Luc Van Braekel)