October 26, 2020
18:57
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The De Croo government is subjecting all departments to an efficiency exercise worth 150 million euros. But Frank Vandenbroucke (sp.a) makes a case for the ‘corona services’ to escape.
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The Council of Ministers approved on Friday the so-called budget notifications that form the basis for the budget of 2021. The documents specify, among other things, the increase in minimum pensions by 11 percent, the higher growth standard for the health care budget and the extra millions – mostly investments. – for justice, police, asylum and migration, fire brigade, NMBS, Infrabel, climate, defense, etc. But what has gradually become a tradition in Belgium is that this administrative period also begins with the blunt instrument of rapid savings on the operating and personnel budgets of all government departments. This ‘efficiency exercise’ should yield 150 million in 2021.
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Distinction
But contrary to what happened under the Michel government, State Secretary for Budget Eva De Bleeker (Open VLD) is proud that the cheese slicer is not being used this time. ‘We make a distinction between the departments that fight the corona virus and the others. For example, all safety and health departments will have to do a limited exercise of 0.89 percent of their operating and personnel budget. The other departments will make an effort of 2 percent next year, ‘says De Bleeker.
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According to the budget documents, the services that have to save 0.89 percent are the FPS Health, NIHDI, justice, police, fire brigade, asylum and migration, defense and Infrabel, but also, for example, the corona fighters of Sciensano and the Federal Medicines Agency (FAMHP). Isn’t it a bizarre signal that the services on the front line must now save money, even if it is considerably less than the other departments?
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The minister will not save on people who gave the best of themselves in the common good.
Cabinet of Minister Vandenbroucke
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It is soothing to the liberals that the efficiency exercise cannot be seen in isolation from the extra millions that the services concerned receive through budget increases and investments. “Ultimately, all those services will benefit, thanks to additional resources or strategic investments. But the fact that ministries receive extra money does not mean that they cannot organize their operations more efficiently ‘, you can hear.
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But from the cabinet of Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health Frank Vandenbroucke (sp.a) comes a completely different reaction. ‘The minister will not save on services and people who have given the very best of themselves in the past year in the public interest. Instead, funds will be found elsewhere before 2021, as agreed within the government. We will look for a structural solution for the years that follow. ‘
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A first dissonance within the De Croo government? ‘No’, it sounds in the cabinet of State Secretary for Budget Eva De Bleeker. ‘It has indeed been agreed that the guardianship ministers can make other proposals than a linear saving in order to reach the yield of 150 million euros. Minister Vandenbroucke is therefore making use of this, ‘it sounds.
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Where the money should come from, the spokesman for Vandenbroucke does not yet know. At the De Bleeker cabinet, much is expected in particular from the introduction of spending reviews. This is a system of permanent expenditure management that comes from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and recently also attracted the attention of the Flemish Budget Minister Matthias Diependaele (N-VA).
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Weather Defense
Finally, one department that once again cannot escape the scissors is Defense. An effort of 0.89 percent on a budget of about 3.7 billion euros is considerably less than the savings made by the Michel government, but it is at odds with the request of the previous army command to add 2.4 billion euros. Still, according to defense sources, the exercise would be quite doable, because the military will see a pension wave in the coming years.
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