Belgian government starts National Day with socio-economic reforms

The federal government reached a so-called summer agreement around 4h on Monday morning, 21 July, Belgium’s National Day. Senior ministers negotiated all night on a series of socio-economic reforms.

Prime minister Bart De Wever showed his satisfaction by giving his first press conference since taking office months ago. The Prime Minister summarised the main points of the summer agreement, which included "pension reform, tax reform, modernisation and flexibilization of the labour market, and finally, an agreement on the framework law for healthcare." The merger of the six Brussels police zones was also confirmed by the inner cabinet.

The aims of the reforms are to ensure people work long enough before retiring, to provide higher net pay for workers, to make work-related rules more flexible, and to rework the financing of the healthcare system.

_{Bart De Wever © BELGA PHOTO MARIUS BURGELMAN}

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