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The financial situation of Brussels forced the rating agency Standard & Poor’s to lower Brussels’ rating from AA- to A+. Brussels Budget Minister Sven Gatz (Open VLD) is using this to wake up his colleagues in the government. “As Budget Minister you have few friends,” says Gatz The morning on Radio 1. “Some colleagues have not yet realized the seriousness of the situation. I am not happy with the lowering of the rating, but it does give me the opportunity to say: we have a problem, we need to make a turnaround.” to assure.”

It has been known for some time that Brussels’ budget is not in order. In November, the Court of Audit was very critical of Gatz’s budget, which reached an agreement in the government on 5.65 billion euros in income and 7.79 billion euros in expenditure. The Court of Audit already warned about the rating agency Standard & Poor’s. The lowering of the rating means that borrowing will become more expensive for the Brussels Region. “The party, that period of low interest rates, is behind us,” said Gatz.

The Court also questioned the way in which Brussels keeps the construction of metro line 3 out of the budget. Gatz now proposes a change of course for that major metro project. “We are now on a different track: we are looking at whether we can deconsolidate for the partnership of the second part of the line. This is a construction in which the client takes the risk for a number of decades and we make our investment over the longer term. can spread. This must be discussed with the European Commission.”

But Gatz is clearly also looking at other sources of income. “We are building the metro for ourselves, but also for commuters. There is also public transport in Antwerp and Ghent, but it is paid for by the Flemish government. As far as I am concerned, a smart kilometer tax is still on the agenda. That has the advantage that you are doing good things for health and the economy and that you are also generating income.”

Under Gatz’s encouragement, the Brussels government has already spent more than 30 million euros on preparations for such a smart kilometer tax, even though it was opposed by the ruling party PS. The Flemish and Walloon governments were also opposed to this “tax on commuters”. It remains to be seen whether the next Brussels government will introduce this kilometer charge.