Groen advocates 25 instead of 20 days of statutory leave: “Belgians get few vacation days”

On May 1, Green Minister Petra De Sutter will present a striking proposal: she wants to increase the statutory minimum leave from 20 to 25 days. “Compared to other Europeans, Belgians receive little statutory leave,” says De Sutter, who notes that lower-paid jobs in particular have to make do with few vacation days.

“While countries such as France, Denmark and Luxembourg grant 25 statutory days of leave, half of Belgian private sector employees have to make do with the minimum of 20 days,” says the Green Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Enterprises and Civil Servants. She therefore wants to equate the number of statutory days of leave with that of the countries mentioned.

“Cleaning assistants, waiters, construction workers and others generally have barely 20 days of leave. Employees from the banking world, chemicals, government, education, etc. can count on many more days. Broadly speaking, we see that the shorter and less paid the contract is, the greater the chance that someone only has the minimum number of days of leave. Due to collective closures, they often cannot even determine when they can take leave,” says De Sutter. “It is time for us to be on an equal footing with other countries and grant more leave to every working Belgian. Why should cleaning assistants, for example, receive less leave than bank clerks?”

According to the Green minister, an extension of statutory leave is the best way to grant more leave to all employees. “We want everyone to be equal before the law: white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, employees in large companies and employees in SMEs must be given more leave,” De Sutter concludes.