Elections 2024: Vooruit wants to raise minimum wage, Open VLD wants increased pension for working people
The leader of Flemish socialist party Vooruit, Melissa Depraetere, has announced that she wants to raise the minimum wage in Belgium to 2,500 euros per month, an increase of almost 20 per cent. Meanwhile, prime minister Alexander De Croo said his liberal party, Open VLD, wants to increase working people's pensions by 500 euros.
In a speech on the eve of Labour Day, Depraetere said she and her party would fight for "ordinary things" such as "a bus stop near you, decent wages and pensions, the best education". That also includes raising the minimum wage to 2,500 euros from 2,029.88 euros.
"Times have been damn difficult and unfortunately they are not over yet"
Depraetere also touched on the austerity measures Belgium will have to adopt to reduce its budget deficit. "Times have been damn difficult and unfortunately they are not over yet," she said. "The wars continue and we have to get our budget in order to secure the future of our children. Very difficult choices will have to be made."
Increased pensions
De Croo also gave a speech to mark Labour Day, in which he said his party wants working people to build up 500 euros more pension than those who do not work.
The proposal is an extension of an earlier proposal that working people should always earn 500 euros more than non-working people, which De Croo says has been taken up by other parties. Open VLD wants the pension contribution of long-term unemployed people to decrease.
"You can always lose your job, but the fact that non-working people sometimes have the same pension as people who have always worked, that touches a nerve. That's not fair," De Croo said.
#FlandersNewsService | Prime minister Alexander De Croo © BELGA PHOTO KURT DESPLENTER
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