Bart De Wever: “The federal budget is a corpse beyond resuscitation”

“We have the highest government spending, and it will continue to increase. We have the highest debt ratio, and it is going to increase. We have the highest tax rate, and it is also going to increase. In the meantime, we also have the lowest economic growth, the employment rate remains low and we are facing a real pension bomb. What is the De Croo government doing? Nothing. That is completely irresponsible. I would say: Stop trying anything else. Go home,” chairman Bart De Wever says of the federal budget agreement.

“Actually, this was a historic budget conclave,” says Bart De Wever. “Prime Minister De Croo came in with the promise to ‘stop the rotting’, and he came out with a situation that is even worse. That budget is a corpse beyond resuscitation, to put it in familiar terms. The contrast with the Flemish Government could not be greater: the latter does succeed in producing a structurally sound budget. No one disputes that.”

Disastrous

“The De Croo government is not taking any measures to tackle the enormous costs of ageing that are about to hit us. That amounts to about EUR 20 billion. Everyone knows that, but no one does anything. If we want to live as people in Germany and the Netherlands do, where there is money to really help people, the employment rate must increase. Especially in Brussels and Wallonia, where the figures are disastrous. The PS party may think that it will not be their voters who will pay the debts at the end of the day.”

The situation is becoming untenable

We need not have any illusions, according to De Wever: “This isn’t even about our children and grandchildren anymore. This is something that will be upon us tomorrow. We will have to pay billions in interest charges. That will just become untenable. Meanwhile, most of the money to maintain our welfare state goes to passives.”

“By the way, this federal government is counting itself rich with revenues that may not be there, because this whole surplus profits tax - which we do not oppose in principle - could be a grand but ineffective gesture. The forecasts say that the price per kWh would drop to EUR 100. But in the meantime, the Vivaldi government is incurring expenditures that it can no longer withdraw.”

Promise fools much

“It is fine to give the middle class some money to pay the energy bill, but they forget to say that the same middle class has already paid that money twice over through the index and taxes. The working middle class must first pay taxes and then get part of it back in a cheque that they do not even know if it will be covered. But where do you think they will get that money? You can promise fools a lot, and it will make them live in joy for a while, but reality will soon be upon us.”

“Go home”

“If even a Vivaldi deputy prime minister says he does not agree with anything and one should not expect major reforms, then I say: go home. Stop trying anything else. Otherwise, we will lose another two years of precious time. It keeps getting steeper as you go uphill. You must not lie to people: the chance that we will get through this without loss of prosperity is nil. And every day that the Vivaldi government lasts longer, the situation will get worse.”