Our country will have to make significant savings in the coming years to comply with the new European budget rules. Open Vld and N-VA in particular emphasized the importance of a credible budget process during the campaign. Now Vooruit is also putting a detailed plan on the table. The party wants to demonstrate that socialists also take the budget seriously and do not just dig wells.
“A healthy budget is super important for Vooruit. To strengthen our prosperity and distribute it fairly, and to reduce inequality. For the right, it is a stick to beat those who are already unable to make ends meet and save on their health and purchasing power,” says Vooruit chairman Melissa Depraetere.
Striking: the socialists still want a postponement of Europe. The Belgian budget deficit – all governments combined – today amounts to 4.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Vooruit wants to get the deficit below 3 percent by 2030. That is two years later than Europe imposes. “Going faster would have a negative impact on our economic growth,” it said.
Laundry list
In addition to that budget process, money is also needed to implement Vooruit’s program. In concrete terms, the party is coming up with a laundry list of measures for the Flemish and federal level, with which 20 billion euros should be found annually by 2029. Six billion of this must come from savings, another 6 billion will be sought in new taxes, and a whole series of reforms and investments must yield another 8 billion. The majority of investments must take place at Flemish level: in healthcare, childcare and education.
Vooruit emphasizes that these measures will not be enough. Brussels and Wallonia will also have to do their part.
The Socialists want to save 2.7 billion euros on business subsidies, among other things. Politicians themselves must also put their money where their mouth is. Spending on consultants must be curtailed, the Senate must be abolished, party financing must be reexamined. According to Vooruit, there is 1.4 billion available in government and political organizations.
In addition to taxes, a gambling tax must generate 1.2 billion euros annually. A fairer contribution from the large wealthy would yield 2 billion, an excess profit tax another almost one billion. The largest gain – 4.5 billion – is achieved by getting more people to work. A pension reform, in which the highest pensions are limited, will bring in another half a billion.
The question is how certain all those amounts are. In recent months, the Planning Bureau has calculated the most important program points of the parties in parliament. The Planning Bureau will present its findings later this week.
Global Plan
With its ‘Global Plan’ – a reference to Jean-Luc Dehaene’s Global Plan – Vooruit wants to stabilize our country’s rising debt ratio by 2029. In the following years, the debt ratio must gradually decrease, to fall below 100 percent of GDP again in 2040. (With today’s policies, the debt ratio will rise above 150 percent by then.)
