3 december 2011, the european province of belgium

It's almost 18 months since belgium had a government (19 september 2010), but it finally looks like negotiations are about to conclude. Somewhat remarkably given that the elections saw immigrants cast in a rather negative light, the prime minister looks set to be a half-orphan of poor italian workers: the american dream in belgium. He's also openly gay (not the first pm, a distinction that went to iceland's johanna sigurdardottir) and even more remarkable, a french speaker, the first since 1974. That's a bit of a blow for the richer flanders half of the country, which still looks ever closer to becoming an independent state, kosovo being the model. If brits think scotland is on the verge of independence, it's worth reflecting belgium already has separate newspapers, tv stations and even foreign aid budgets. The markets will no doubt be positive about a government's formation, especially as the agreement has a commitment to a 2.8% deficit, but the ups and down on belgian bond yields can hardly be said to track the coalition negotaiations. For all the talk about the enormity of the steps to fiscal union angela merkel has begun to explicitly talk about now, belgian is a case study of how far down the line the euro area already is in terms of the whole endeavour carrying its component countries, or at least the smaller ones. As a sign of how far down the line many things already are, it is surely possible to see a positive in that perhaps there's a bit less massive upheaval to get to the nirvana of stability and normality than everyone expects.