Investments up in Flanders' budget for 2019

Flanders’ minister-president Geert Bourgeois delivered the Septemberverklaaring, or September Declaration, this week, the annual address that opens the new parliamentary year. The speech traditionally covers the current state of affairs and plans for the following year.

Bourgeois began by pointing out that it is his last speech in this six-year administration; the next federal and regional elections are in May 2019. “We are in a better place than we were at the beginning of this administration,” he said. “This is no doubt partly due to quelling the financial crisis and the recovery of the international economy. But it’s also because of the commitment and perseverance of many Flemings – women and men, young and old, workers and employers, the salaried and the self-employed, thinkers and do-ers, dreamers and risk-takers.”

He provided some statistics to back-up the claim that the region is better off than it was four years ago. Flanders now has 145,000 additional jobs and 41,000 fewer people on unemployment. Exports leapt to a record high of €317 billion in 2017, compared to €293.5 in 2014. Flanders is responsible for 84% of Belgium’s total exports.

Efforts to get older as well as young people to work have also paid off, with the 55-plus employment rate moving from 44% to 50% between 2014 and 2017. The figures are similar for young unskilled workers.

Bourgeois also recognised groups, institutions and individuals that have led to a growth in volunteer numbers and youth activities, as well as the athletes and artists who act as ambassadors abroad in sport, music, dance, theatre, the fine arts and film.

He discussed Flanders’ balanced budget and the priorities of the final year of the administration, which had been approved by parliament on Friday evening. The last four years have required the government to make up €2 billion, some of which came from cuts inside the administration itself. There are currently 24 fewer departments and agencies and 4,000 fewer civil servants than four years ago.

“And yes, we had to raise some fees and lower some subsidies,” he said. “But every measure was tolerable, and we built in social safety nets to protect the most vulnerable Flemings.”

Now, he continued, the cuts are paying off with a balanced budget and planned investments for the future. “Today we see just how forward-thinking those choices we had to make in 2014 were. The Flemish government is financially healthy, with room for new policies and investments.”

Some of the main figures for the new budget are:

• €500 million more investments in the economy and the welfare policy
• An additional €580 million for continuing policies
• €85 million for individual projects/campaigns

Funding priorities for the new budget period are similar to the last one: mobility and public utilities, new and renovated schools, social housing, research and development and wellness. Some of these areas have gotten a boost in their budgets for the coming year.

Some of the specific investments and figures include:

• €13 million for De Lijn to buy 1,202 new hybrid and electric buses by 2024

• €5 billion for the Oosterweel project, which will connect Antwerp’s ring road

• €280 million extra for research, making good on the administration’s promise to increase expenditure in the area by €500 million. Part of this funding will go to the launch of the new Flanders Future Techfund, which will assist tech and scientific researchers in developing and marketing products based on their research

• €100 million extra for people with disabilities to increase care options

• €37 million extra for child care. By the end of the year, most Flemish municipalities should have a Huis van het Kind (Children’s House)

• €114 million extra for climate change, bringing the year’s total investment to €438. A priority is to make new and existing buildings energy efficient, starting with social housing, schools and government buildings

• €70 million extra as incentives to hire people 55 and older, young unskilled labourers and people who have been off work long-term following an illness or accident. “Our employment rate is at 73.4%,” said Bourgeois. “The 76% goal for 2020 is within reach. But it could – and it must – be higher. We must have the ambition to match the 80% rate we see in Germany and the Netherlands.”

• €40 million extra for primary education, including more personnel

Bourgeois wrapped up the September Declaration with a thinly veiled warning regarding regional election campaigning. “On 26 May 2019, the people will vote for a new parliament. Elections, as we know, can cast their shadows very far ahead. It would be regrettable if they were to overshadow the work of the parliament.”

Photo, from left: Energy minister Bart Tommelein, education minister Hilde Crevits and minister-president Geert Bourgeois following the September Declaration
©Dirk Waem/BELGA