Entrepreneurs present political leaders with priorities during speed dating

UNIZO Flemish Brabant organized a speed date between entrepreneurs and the province’s political leaders. During a breakfast at the Fenikshof in Grimbergen, entrepreneurs answered their questions in a one-on-one conversation at various tables. The central question: what do politicians want to change to create a more business-friendly climate. UNIZO’s proposals, such as introducing a new wage determination model and limiting the notice period for dismissal, sparked heated debates.

Elke Tielemans, director of UNIZO Flemish Brabant and Brussels, introduced the discussions and briefly presented the UNIZO memorandum ‘Krachtwerk’. “What we really need is strong policies. Powerful governments that learn to work together and dare to implement decisive policies within a strict budgetary framework. In our memorandum we make 88 concrete policy recommendations,” says Tielemans.

SME country
From a survey conducted by UNIZO among more than 1,200 entrepreneurs, the high tax burden was identified as a priority theme by 51% of the members. In second place comes tackling the administrative burden (48%), followed by the high wage costs (48%), the social status as a self-employed person (38%) and finding and keeping suitable staff (34%). It was no coincidence that these were the themes that were discussed most during the conversations.

“These are the problems that SME entrepreneurs face every day. Belgium, and even more Flanders and Brussels, is the largest SME country in Western Europe. Nowhere in Western Europe do more people work in SMEs than in us (54%). Nowhere is the share of self-employed people in added value (44%) as important as here. Nowhere is the economy as dependent on private entrepreneurship as ours. Strengthening independent entrepreneurs therefore equates to strengthening the prosperity of our country itself. Thanks to this speed date, politicians were quickly given the entrepreneurial priorities, directly from practice,” Tielemans adds.

Bold but necessary proposals
As an introduction, she provided a number of bold but necessary proposals. For example, UNIZO wants to demolish the sacred house of the far too far-reaching dismissal scheme and limit the maximum notice period to 52 weeks or one year. In addition, the organization finally demands a limitation of unemployment benefits over time. More people need to work, and using the labor reserve in Brussels and Wallonia is an important spearhead for Flemish Brabant entrepreneurs.

To avoid future wage shocks, UNIZO wants to intervene in the Belgian system of automatic lead indexation. “We are almost the only country in Europe that still clings to this. Its abolition will be unavoidable in the long term. Pending this, at least a sustainability index must be introduced in which fossil fuels are removed from the index basket and companies in difficulty must be able to opt-out,” says Elke Tielemans.

She also advocated the provision of effectively available square meters of space for doing business and the need for a decisive mobility policy in which we tackle the endless traffic jams, especially in the province of Flemish Brabant. UNIZO requires a coordinated approach with all mobility partners involved. “We face years of work on the most busy mobility axis in the country. It is essential to protect economic activity in the region. By analogy with ‘Smart to Antwerp’, we ask for a ‘Smart around Brussels’ campaign to inform travelers and absolutely avoid the perception of ‘inaccessible’.”