Axel Ronse: “We need to bite the bullet now—for the sake of the next generation”

As budget talks continue, MP and parliamentary group leader Axel Ronse appeared on Villa Politica with a clear message: the time for half-measures is over. “Politics must finally do what should have been done decades ago,” he said.

Time for collective effort

“They should have started 25 years ago, back when the economy was booming. That was the time to safeguard our welfare state,” Ronse began. Now, he says, only a painful but necessary clean-up remains. “Prime Minister Bart De Wever and the entire Arizona coalition are deeply aware that real change is unavoidable.”

According to Ronse, the government has already achieved remarkable progress in just six months—introducing time limits on unemployment benefits and launching a broad wave of reforms. “And now, we’re facing what is likely the biggest political challenge of this century: balancing the budget.”

“We all have to bite the bullet now,” Ronse said. “Everyone will need to contribute—across all layers of society. That’s just the reality. If we don’t act now, the next generation won’t be able to live in a functioning social welfare system.”

Pressed on the specifics of the budget cuts, Ronse remained tight-lipped: “We’re not negotiating in front of the cameras. This isn’t Big Brother—it’s serious work, done behind closed doors.”

Sticking to the current course would be far worse

Ronse pointed out that the previous government would have ended with a deficit of €43 billion, while the current administration has already brought that down to €39 billion. “But that’s still unacceptable. We’re on track to spend €20 billion a year on interest payments alone.”

He stressed that workers should be affected as little as possible: “We’re a party that believes work should pay off. Right now, people are overtaxed. Our state is simply too greedy.”

He highlighted several recent measures aimed at strengthening purchasing power for those in work:

• Lower employer contributions to Social security Social security is currently managed at the Federal level in Belgium. The most important pillars of Belgian social security are: sickness and invalidity insurance (NIDHI), pensions, unemployment insurance and child allowances. In addition, occupational illness, occupational accidents and annual holidays are dealt with at this level. Some Flemish parties have been campaigning for years for (large parts of) social security to be transferred to the Regions and Communities. social security
• An increase in the lowest tax bracket
• Continuation of the Flemish job Bonus Career break for the calculation of, specifically, civil servant’s pension. In order to obtain the annual pension amount in the public sector, the reference salary is multiplied by the number of employment years. That result is then multiplied by the 1/60 career break, the so-called bonus. An advantageous break applies for certain employees, so that they can reach the maximum pension more quickly. bonus

Ronse’s closing message was crystal clear: “Our goal is simple—future generations shouldn’t have to pay for our debts through their taxes. That’s our responsibility.”