Brussels - The five political parties which made up Belgium's last government agreed on Tuesday to re-form their administration under a new premier, 10 days after the last one fell.

After two days of talks, the leaders of the Dutch- and French- speaking conservatives and liberals and the French-speaking socialists agreed to form a government led by Dutch-speaking conservative Herman van Rompuy, 61, the former leader of parliament.

The new government is set to be sworn in later on Tuesday afternoon, sources at the palace of King Albert II confirmed to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Once sworn in, van Rompuy will be the third premier to head the ill-starred coalition this year.

He replaces his party colleague Yves Leterme, 48, whose government fell on December 19 after it was alleged that Leterme and then- justice minister Jo Vandeurzen had attempted to influence judges in a case concerning the sale of stricken banking giant Fortis.

The Leterme government, in turn, took over in March from a caretaker coalition of the same five parties headed by former premier Guy Verhofstadt - defeated by Leterme in June 2007 elections.

The new government largely preserves the division of ministries organized by Leterme, with van Rompuy's old position as leader of parliament going to a Dutch-speaking liberal.

The new premier takes the helm as Belgium is struggling to deal with the financial crisis and a long-running row over the division of power and wealth between the richer, Dutch-speaking province of Flanders and the poorer, French-speaking region of Wallonia. (dpa)