New federal government plans major cuts in civil service

The new centre-right federal government has announced big cuts in the number of civil servants, according to a report in the financial daily De Tijd. The Michel government hopes to book savings of €800 million in the personnel budget over the next five years by replacing only one in five of retiring civil servants.

The cuts will provide 12% of the total savings that the government hopes to achieve, according to the newspaper. The remainder of the cuts will be achieved by reducing administration costs and cancelling some investments.

Unions are worried that civil service pensions will be cut as a result of new measures. The government wants to calculate civil servant pensions in the same way as private sector pensions, which would mean that they would have to work longer to qualify for a full pension.

Government workers and teachers are currently allowed to include their time spent as a student in calculating the number of working years. But the government has said it will scrap this provision. The socialist union ACOD has described the measures as “scandalous”.

“A public service is created to serve the citizen, but these savings are going to have a really serious impact on citizens,” said Chris Reniers of ACOD in an interview with Radio 1.

The government claims that the planned cuts will not have any impact on the functioning of the civil service.