LIVE ELECTIONS. “Yet another ill-considered proposal”: union criticizes new pension proposal from Open Vld | Elections 2024

The liberal trade union ACLVB is opposing a proposal by the liberal party Open Vld to give a lower minimum pension to those who have been unemployed for more than two years. “This does not fit into our vision of liberalism”says the union.

“Our definitions of liberalism are clearly far apart,” says ACLVB chairman Gert Truyens about Open Vld’s proposal. The The union points out that the access condition for the minimum pension has already been tightened. From next year, an employee must have worked 5,000 days for a full-time minimum pension.

“Anyone who is involuntarily without work during their career already bears the financial consequences at that time,” said Katrien Allaert, national secretary of ACLVB. “This proposal would mean a further deterioration of the financial situation for a group that is already struggling.”

“We note that various parties are targeting social security in their proposals,” says Truyens. “This was yet another ill-considered and undeveloped proposal in the line. It made the newspapers, let’s hope it doesn’t get the government agreement.”

The political editorial staff of HLN has investigated the federal government. What is the general report? Have expectations been met? And what are the chances that Alexander De Croo will form the next government with the same coalition parties? Isolde Van den Eynde, political journalist for HLN, answers the most important questions in the podcast ‘HLN explains’.

The budget deficit only wants to move forward back below the threshold of 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030. Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Frank Vandenbroucke explained this on Monday in the VRT radio program ‘De Ochtend’.

Belgium recorded a budget deficit of 4.4 percent last year. According to Vandenbroucke, the European Commission is asking our country to do this by 2028 dips below the three percent threshold again, but that Vooruit thinks it is too early. The party does not want to come close to that standard until 2029, in order to certainly achieve the target, “even with a large surplus”, by 2030.

“What Vooruit proposes is a very strong investment in the future of our children, our education, our mobility and we are taking the time to do so,” Vandenbroucke said. According to him, Vooruit has one “real calculated plan” ready that allows to bring the national debt under control and at the same time leaves room for investments in sectors such as education, childcare and mobility.

Vandenbroucke is convinced that it is his party’s proposed budget path will be “perfectly negotiable.” The Social Democrat believes that the budget plans of other parties in this campaign, such as that of N-VA, are also not entirely in line with European rules.

Vooruit has previously been critical of the new European framework for the supervision of national budgets. “The framework has one weakness: you have to invest, but the useful effect on economic growth and competitiveness is not taken into account,” says Vandenbroucke.

Christophe Deborsue has been a Wetstraat journalist for 36 years, now at RTL. He lives in Namur and Schelle. Every week he writes about how the Walloons live and (really) think. Also about the Flemish. Today: Why the Flemish can thank the Walloons.

Green launches the prosperity guarantee, a proposal that supplements benefits and wages up to the poverty line and the risk of poverty according to the party is reduced to zero. This concerns an election measure that was calculated by the Planning Bureau. “We want to tackle poverty without leaving anyone behind and we mean that literally: with the prosperity guarantee we can to ensure that no Belgian will experience poverty anymore“, says Green co-chair Nadia Naji.

According to the party, the proposal is a well-thought-out variant of basic income, but one that is awarded in a targeted and selective manner to people who currently live below the poverty line. People with an income from work receive extra. They enjoy a bonus on top of their wages if their income is higher than the poverty line, but lower than the median income of 2,416 euros, and therefore have more net income. Through this approach, the prosperity guarantee ensures that the labor supply increases, the Planning Bureau calculated.

“The prosperity guarantee serves two purposes: first and foremost, the calculation shows us that the risk of poverty can be reduced to zero, something that no party or government has ever achieved,” Naji emphasizes. “At the same time, the prosperity guarantee provides a bonus on the lowest wages: anyone who earns a wage that is below the median income receives the prosperity guarantee as a bonus. In this way we ensure that work always pays off and therefore remains attractive.”

The prosperity guarantee supplements income up to the poverty line. Anyone who already exceeds the poverty line with current social security or who supplements that support with income from assets is not eligible for the prosperity guarantee.

The measure is good for a tax reduction of 9 billion euros, which would be implemented gradually and fits into a broader tax reform. According to the Greens, the targeted tax reduction will have many social and economic payback effects.