“Belgium is a luxury we can no longer afford”

Federal group chairman Peter De Roover was clear in his response to Prime Minister De Croo’s State of the Union address: this Vivaldi government will not undertake anything new in the coming year, while all the much-needed reforms have been put on hold. “This Vivaldi coalition government has caused five years of stagnation in times when we cannot afford that. De Croo has not done anything that needed to be done during this legislature. It is more obvious than ever: reform is impossible in Belgium. Belgium is a luxury we can no longer afford.”

“When this Vivaldi government was appointed in 2020, Alexander De Croo presented a story that could be summarised as: ‘We pushed the firebrands into the opposition, and now we can finally show that you can achieve reform in Belgium.’ Four years later, the final evaluation of this government is: nothing has happened, and nothing is going to happen.”

Five years with the brakes on

“With sky-high debts, we did not have the luxury of losing all those years, but that is exactly what De Croo has done to this country. He put the brakes on the country for five years. And now he’s going to rest on his laurels. But there are hardly any laurels. The only positive thing is the expansion of flexi-jobs, but that is an excellent addition to a policy that has never been implemented: activation,” says De Roover.

Everything stranded

“All attempts to implement robust reforms, which everyone agrees must be implemented, have failed: tax, pensions, labour market policy, etc. He had to throw up his hands in resignation in all those areas. That is why I think he decided not to even attempt to put those reforms on the agenda again.”

Cowardice

“In 2020, a government was formed with such a wide ideological spread that it could not do much more than mind the shop and spend money. But the deficits accumulated today are tomorrow’s loss of purchasing power. That is the cowardice of the de Croo government: their main area of agreement was about spending money. They are playing Santa Claus with money that is not there due to a lack of vision and, above all, courage. The courage to undertake real reforms.”

Peter thinks those reforms will not happen either: “It is more obvious than ever: reform is impossible in Belgium. Belgium is a luxury we can no longer afford.”