The job he is undertaking is known in Belgian politics as informateur in both Dutch and French. The informateur is charged with sounding out the parties to discover the likelihood of some of them being able to form a majority coalition. The job is entirely informal; no law or regulation governs the practice. In fact, the king is not obliged to follow the informateur procedure at all and could simply appoint a party leader to form a government following the talks he routinely has with the main figures on the political scene.

In practical terms, however, that would not work, given Belgium’s relatively huge spread of political parties, divided by ideology and language. In this case, the creation of a coalition government is a matter of the utmost delicacy and diplomacy.

The outgoing government of Yves Leterme was composed of five parties – three French-speaking and two Flemish. That government is an example neither De Wever nor the king wish to follow. In June 2007, Leterme’s CD&V party, together with cartel partners N-VA, swept to victory in the elections, and Leterme’s personal vote of 796,500 was just short of an all-time record. The king asked Didier Reynders of the French-speaking liberals to act as informateur, who called on Leterme to form a government. Reynders was forced to resign the job of informateur in August 2007 when a formula for a coalition government could not be found.

Herman Van Rompuy was brought in as explorateur (another type of informateur) and concluded that Leterme was the best man for the job. Leterme tried again but had to throw in the towel in December, at which point former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt stepped in to form an interim government.

The nine months of instability between the elections of 2007 and the moment Leterme finally composed a government had a negative effect not only on Belgium’s international image but also on the economy. The alliance now between Flemish nationalist Bart De Wever and Walloon socialist Elio Di Rupo should have even less chance of holding together than past attempts at coalition building. They would be sure to clash on some fundamental issues, like spending cuts. But they also each have a wish-list of issues the other party could be willing to concede.

De Wever is keen to get the job of informateur over with as quickly as possible, most likely within two weeks – with “no endless series of discussions,” he said.