Brussels - King Albert of Belgium appointed Yves Leterme as the country's prime minister for a second time Wednesday following the resignations of Herman Van Rompuy, who is to become European Union president. "The king has accepted the resignation of Mr Van Rompuy from his duties as prime minister and has appointed Mr Yves Leterme as Prime Minister," the Royal Palace said in a statement.
The move followed a political deal reached earlier this week among Belgium's fragmented ruling coalition parties.
As well as trying to steer Belgium towards economic recovery, one of Leterme's biggest challenges will be to ease lingering tension between the country's Dutch-speaking majority and its French-speaking minority.
A deal on redrawing the electoral boundaries of Dutch-speaking areas around largely French-speaking Brussels is seen as essential in this context.
Leterme was due to spell out his political priorities to parliament later on Wednesday ahead of a vote of confidence due to take place on Thursday.
A Flemish Christian Democrat, the 49-year-old Leterme headed the Belgian government for much of 2008 after emerging as the surprise victor of national elections in 2007. Over 800,000 voters marked him as their personal preference, a Belgian record.
But his time in office was marred by vicious political infighting, and he resigned in December amid accusations of political meddling over the sale of troubled bank Fortis. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
Prone to occasional gaffes, Leterme served as foreign minister until his latest appointment.
Belgian media said the new cabinet was expected to remain largely unchanged.
Meanwhile, Van Rompuy was expected to visit Riga and Helsinki next week.
The trip, which he had originally planned in his capacity as prime minister, will be his first since his appointment by fellow EU leaders as the bloc's first full-time president of the European Council, a post created by the Lisbon Treaty.
While the treaty comes into force on Wednesday, Van Rompuy is not due to assume office until January.
