New budget rules in Europe impose a difficult task on our country: saving 27 billion euros over seven years. An effort that would undoubtedly hurt. However, parties are afraid to announce unpopular measures during the election campaign. Today at their conference, the liberals are the first to throw their cards on the calculated budget table. They have included dozens of measures and are demolishing a number of sacred cows.
Last week, for example, Vooruit CEO Melissa Depreter objected to cuts to Medicare or Social Security. However, the Liberals want to save €5.6 billion in health care. By slowing health budget growth to 1.5% per year, by allowing hospitals to specialize more and by more targeted allocation of increased reimbursement status, which qualifies for a discount. Today, 2 million Belgians have this status.
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Also noteworthy is the automatic wage index adjustment. This will not be cancelled, but will only be paid net. There will be a curb on the overall share, so that the drag on wage costs with our neighboring countries is removed. Furthermore, the Liberal toolkit includes eliminating the 45% tax bracket, expanding the job bonus and cutting unemployment benefits. This will be limited to one to two years, depending on the situation in the labor market.
The Liberals aim to create 450,000 additional jobs. To complete this, they want the difference in income between working and non-working people to be at least 500 euros. There are also a number of classic blue demands, such as expanding flexible jobs and improving wages for the self-employed. The goal is to increase the activity rate to 79 percent. It should generate just over 7 billion euros for the state treasury.
Regarding pensions, it is striking that the Liberals want to give less weight to the pension amount for similar periods, during which the person is not working but is building up pension rights. In addition, there is equalization cancellation. This is a system in which civil servants' pensions increase with their salaries. The Liberals want to equate the pensions of civil servants with those of contract workers. In general, they want fewer government employees.
“Show us the money.”
The Liberals announced earlier that they want to invest nearly 4 billion euros in defense in the next legislature. They want to finance the purchase of new military equipment in part by selling a number of government properties, including those at Belvius, Ethias and BNP Paribas. They also want to save 250 million euros on asylum and immigration by reducing the number of reception places for asylum seekers from 35,000 to 25,000.
In any case, we must make a great effort in the coming years to close the budget gap. The Liberals want to reduce the gap by 0.6 to 0.8 percent of GDP annually. Over the entire legislature, this amounts to an effort of €24.7 billion. This total amount has not yet been calculated by the Federal Planning Office, because the examination of electoral programs will not be completed until one month before the elections.
It is heard within the party leadership that other parties must now also do their bit. “Our message is clear“Show us the money.”“.
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