Valerie Van Peel: “We must stop keeping people dependent”

Party chair Valerie Van Peel appeared on De Afspraak on VRT Canvas to discuss recent developments in Venezuela — including the arrest of President Maduro by the United States — but the focus of the conversation was the long-awaited reform to limit unemployment benefits over time. The New Year’s Eve riots were also a major topic.

Trading benefits for votes

Van Peel described the unemployment reform as both historic and necessary: “Limiting unemployment benefits in time was a much-needed turning point for this country. For far too long, we had a system that kept people trapped in dependency. And that, in turn, eroded public support among taxpayers who are expected to fund it.”

“You shouldn’t blame the people stuck in long-term unemployment. The blame lies with the politicians who kept them in that position, acting like benefactors in exchange for votes,” she explained.

Van Peel also condemned the so-called “forgetting pit status”, where people were left to languish for years with nothing more than a benefit: “Some of those who have been out of work for years struggle with addiction. They received a benefit, and that was the end of the story. This government is breaking with that approach. Intensive guidance, combined with a treatment plan, is now a condition for receiving welfare support.”

But the aim, she stressed, isn’t to punish people — it’s to help them move forward: “We want to give people hope again. Give their children hope again.”

Lack of parental responsibility

Van Peel also addressed the turbulent start to 2026 — marked by Molotov cocktails, destruction and violence — as a symptom of a deeper issue linked to migration and a breakdown of authority.

“We’re seeing young people across Western Europe turning against the very societies that welcomed them. That points to a fundamental problem, the result of uncontrolled migration. And we also need to have an honest conversation about parental responsibility,” she concluded.