At long last, Belgium nearing a government

"Belgium hasn't had a government for so long, and in a county as decentralised as Belgium, there's a need to form a federal government," said Simon Tilford of the CER. "At some point or other, the [political] parties were going to have come to an agreement. But while it is an improvement, it's not going to change anything fundamental. ... The fact that Belgium's cost of borrowing has risen so high relative to Germany has increased pressure on the Belgian authorities [to form a government] ... There are parallels between Belgium and Ireland, but the budget deficit in Belgium is not that bad."