7 parties agree on Belgian coalition government

BRUSSELS (AP) — Almost 500 days after Belgian parliamentary elections, seven parties from both sides of the linguistic aisle have agreed on forming a fully functioning majority government that will center on dealing with the pandemic and its devastating economic impact. A final negotiating session that lasted almost 24 hours found agreement on a  common budget and had only one issue left to decide: who would succeed Sophie Wilmes as prime minister. The seven parties consist of Liberal