“Our prosperity is being sacrificed on the altar of Alexander De Croo’s ambitions”

N-VA Chairman Bart De Wever was a guest on the VTM television news programme this weekend for a review of the political week. He once again lashed out at the federal budget agreement there – “People are being bribed with their own money, which they then have to pay back later” – and the absolute necessity for a switch to Confederalism If we want to make structural changes, then we have to change the structures. Confederalism is the structural change that this country needs. The basic principle of confederalism is that Flanders and Wallonia are the owners of all powers. They exercise these themselves, but can also make decisions together and manage certain powers together at the confederal level, in both of their interests. This completely reverses the logic. Instead of transferring federal powers to Flanders and Wallonia, these powers can be transferred to the confederal level. Forced cooperation is replaced by voluntary cooperation. Must becomes will. Dismantling from above becomes building up from below. Confederalism is therefore deciding together on what we want to do together. confederalism .

“This budget doesn’t carry out any fundamental reform, even though it is so essential: we have the worst budget in the entire developed world, the highest taxes in that world, and almost the highest government spending. Meanwhile, this federal government is spending money that it does not have and may not get, because the income from the windfall taxes of energy companies is highly uncertain, including legally.”

Vivaldi’s theft

“It is the Vivaldi government’s theft: people get an index on their wages and think they are getting something extra, but the tax authorities skim it all off because the tax scales are not indexed. In fact, people are just getting their tax money back. So the question remains: who will pay for all those one-off measures? Where do you get the revenue in a country with the highest deficit? This budget hangs together with spit and twine. People are not stupid, you know. They are bribed with their own money, which they then have to pay back later.”

No more illusions

“This federal government would be better off just quitting. We must not have too many illusions about that Belgian standard. The PS and Ecolo parties will continue to defend this high level of government spending, because, at the end of the day, these debts are not paid by them but by people who work, save and do business. That’s what you get with a prime minister of the seventh party and a Flemish minority: the biggest deficits, the highest spending and the highest taxes. I hold De Croo responsible for that. Our prosperity is being sacrificed on the altar of his ambitions. He absolutely wanted to be prime minister and even dragged in the Greens to make that possible.”

Take destiny into your own hands

“We absolutely must move towards confederalism. I think that if you can take your destiny into your own hands, nothing has yet to be lost. It gets harder every year, but we must give people hope and perspective and we must govern. Look at Flanders. There is no saving at the expense of the people; on the contrary, we focus on the people who need it most: people who go to work for a low wage. They receive a 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 , social allowances on their child benefit and support to renovate their houses. That is policy that matters, and we do that with a budget that is structurally sound.”