The Council of Ministers approved the budget notifications on Friday. As a result, Belgium can submit a real budget again for the first time since 2018.
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State Secretary for Budget Eva De Bleeker (Open VLD) reports this. The budget comes after our country has been working with provisional twelfths since the fall of the Michel government at the end of 2018. By the end of the year, a real budget should be back on the table. According to the State Secretary, the first hurdle has now been taken with the notifications.
Earlier it was announced that 150 million euros will be saved in 2021. “Instead of using the cheese slicer, a distinction is made between the departments that fight the corona virus and the other departments,” says De Bleeker.
In concrete terms, all security departments (police, justice, defense, fire brigade, fedasil …) and health departments (Public Health, the FAMHP, NIHDI …) will perform an ‘efficiency exercise’ of 0.89 percent. The other departments must save 2 percent per year on personnel and operating costs.
New policy
Justice can count on an extra 125 million next year, an amount that will increase further in the following years. More money is also being spent on asylum and migration, both for reception and for return policy. Other security departments such as the fire brigade and the police will also receive additional resources.
On a social level, money has been earmarked to cover additional costs. For example, the maternity leave increases from 10 to 20 days. The minimum pension for employees and the self-employed will also increase by 11 percent by 2024. The Income Guarantee for the Elderly, the benefits for people with a disability and the living wage will increase by 10.75 percent by 2024.
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