The top Flemish ministers had been sitting together all day looking for an agreement on the budget for 2024. The debate was constructive and earlier in the evening it was announced that several partial agreements had already been concluded.
At just before 11 p.m., Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) confirmed that an agreement had been reached.
We have an agreement!
The Flemish Government has just reached agreement on the preparation of the budget and a number of important policy measures for the coming years. Text and explanation on Monday during the September statement in the Flemish Parliament.
— Jan Jambon (@JanJambon) 23 september 2023
“Worked constructively and hard, in good terms,” wrote Deputy Prime Minister Bart Somers (Open Vld) on X, formerly Twitter. “A strong agreement!”
Worked constructively and hard, on good terms. A strong agreement! Reward work, make work possible and better help people who deserve support. 💙👍 https://t.co/OjC2JkmmXS
— Bart Somers (@BartSomers) 23 september 2023
The head of government will explain exactly what investments and savings the Jambon government is planning in his September statement on Monday.
Savings
The sting of the debate may have been in the savings that had to be made. Now that the deficit is forecast to increase by an additional one billion euros in 2024, Open Vld, CD&V and N-VA realize that the Flemish budget will temporarily go slightly deeper into the red. The objective of achieving balance by 2027 is still within reach. But then all ‘structural’ (read: annually recurring) expenses that are currently being incurred must be compensated by additional savings. At least that is the line that N-VA is following. It is not certain whether that demand will be met 100 percent.
There is already a savings table of several hundreds of millions of euros on the table. CD&V had proposed on Friday to cut back on the tax benefit of service vouchers, but neither N-VA nor Open Vld wanted to touch this because it affects the working middle class. So there will be no savings. The target group discount is still included in the table – it would result in savings of around 100 million euros. Today there was a lot of arm-wrestling about the other reductions. Quite a few budget items contain several million euros of unused money, and they are now all being pooled together to help finance the new expenditure.
Childcare and job bonus
The debate is easier on the expenditure side. Childcare is at the top, because that is where the needs are greatest. Consensus was already growing about an additional expenditure of roughly 250 million euros in 2024. The discussion was about how exactly that budget will be divided: how much will the ‘stage 1’ category (childminders, self-employed persons, etc.) and ‘stage 2’ receive. (income-related shelter)? The idea of placing so-called ‘logistics employees’ as support for the child supervisors was also widely supported at the table. This is a cheaper way to have more hands working in child care.
Expanding the job bonus is a second important measure. Everyone seems to want Open Vld to win that trophy. Anyone who earns less than 2,900 gross per month will today receive up to 600 euros extra annually. This bonus may be increased to 700 euros, although another option is to increase the income limit to 2,900 euros gross. The money for the extensive job bonus comes partly from an unused pot, but an additional budget of several tens of millions of euros is also needed for this.
A one-off reduction in the electricity bill is also in the pipeline. In concrete terms, every Flemish family would receive a discount of around 26 euros on his or her bill in 2024. Because it is a one-time procedure, this expense should not have to be offset with additional savings.
Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) is expected in the Flemish Parliament on Monday with his September statement.
