De Wever defends 'difficult path' in State of the Union
Prime minister Bart De Wever says his government has chosen “the difficult path” because it was the only way to restore Belgium’s finances. Delivering his delayed State of the Union address in Parliament on Wednesday, he argued that after years of inaction, “a painless budget can no longer be drawn up”, adding: “That makes us as policymakers vulnerable. But there is no other choice.”
With an agreement on the multi-year budget finally in place, De Wever used his 20-minute speech to underline the scale of the challenge. Belgium, he said, faces economic stagnation, geopolitical instability and demographic pressures that together make the task “unprecedented in our recent history”.
Without firm and sustained measures, he warned, the country risks a structural loss of prosperity “for the first time since the Industrial Revolution”.
“What we don't save today, we'll have to pay back double and triple tomorrow”
De Wever recalled that the Monitoring Committee projected a federal deficit of 6 per cent of GDP - around 43 billion euros - by 2029 if no action were taken. In addition, 4 billion euros extra will go to Defence in order to meet NATO obligations, nearly half of which consists of interest charges. “That is why we have now immediately drawn up a budget up to and including 2029. No more postponements.”
He framed his government’s approach as a conscious choice to take on a Herculean task. “The low-hanging fruit has long since been plucked,” he said. But delaying further would only increase the debt burden: “What we don't save today, we'll have to pay back double and triple tomorrow.”
By 2029, he said, the plan will generate more than 9 billion euros in structural savings and reduce debt accumulation by 17 billion euros over the legislative term, on top of 15 billion euros already saved.
Quoting Winston Churchill, he said: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”
Parliamentary debate begins on Thursday, with a confidence vote possible from Friday.
Political reactions
Groen MP Stefaan Van Hecke criticised the plan as “very unbalanced”, arguing that measures such as the “cent index” would hit ordinary workers and retirees rather than the most vulnerable. He warned that indexing wages only up to 4,000 euros and pensions up to 2,000 euros amounted to “a very heavy attack on the purchasing power of the middle class and pensioners”.
While he welcomed the parcel tax on imports from outside Europe, he said significant revenue gaps, particularly in management companies, copyright and flexi-jobs, remained unaddressed.
Open VLD parliamentary group leader Alexia Bertrand criticised the reliance on new levies, calling it a “pleasure tax”. “Everything that's even remotely enjoyable is taxed… fries, concerts, the gym.”
She also described the agreement as overly complex and argued that the government failed to curb spending: “Ultimately, we have to do what citizens and businesses have been doing for a long time — stop living beyond our means.”
PVDA leader Raoul Hedebouw condemned the cent index as an “attack on the working class”. He argued that the wealthiest would escape the burden, saying that even the doubled securities tax would have limited effect: “The wealthy in our country don't put their assets in a securities account… All those super-rich are going to get away with it again.”
For ordinary workers, he said, “it's about tough measures”, while the richest face only “symbolic measures”.
"Everything that's even remotely enjoyable is taxed… fries, concerts, the gym"
Vlaams Belang parliamentary group leader Barbara Pas accused De Wever of breaking his commitments, arguing that the proposed 9.2 billion euro effort “doesn't solve the problem”. She claimed the new taxes would fall disproportionately on Flemish people and said savings should instead come from areas such as migration, EU contributions and development cooperation. “It's a typical Belgian compromise that the Flemish foot the bill,” she said.
PS parliamentary group leader Pierre-Yves Dermagne argued that the middle class would bear “95 per cent” of the adjustment effort and that many workers would see “500 euros less, not 500 euros more”. He rejected the idea that the measures were unavoidable, recalling that previous budget efforts had targeted multinationals and fraud instead of broad-based taxes.
Prime minister Bart De Wever delivers his political declaration at a plenary session of the chamber at the federal parliament, Brussels, 26 November 2025 © BELGA PHOTO BENOIT DOPPAGNE
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