2023-09-13 17:56:06
The granting of a new concession for the distribution of newspapers is back on the table at Vivaldi. Deputy Prime Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne found an auditor to carry out an external audit.
While negotiations on the development of the 2024 budget are imminent, an explosive file dating from a year ago returns to the Vivaldi table: the granting of a new concession for the distribution of newspapers and magazines.
As a reminder, during the October budget conclave, the De Croo government has decided to reduce the amount of subsidies for this concession from 175 million euros per year to 125 million, at the instigation of Open Vld, which wanted to put an end to this public support purely and simply. But he came up once morest opposition from the PS, and particularly from the Minister of the Economy Pierre-Yves Dermagne, who sees it as a way to guarantee several thousand jobs at bpost.
Countless twists and turns
Shortly following, there was a stir whenan internal bpost audit highlighted potentially illegal agreements concluded between bpost, newspaper publishers DPG and Mediahuis and press distributor PPP in the race for the new concession. This audit cost CEO Dirk Tirez and two bpost directors their jobs.
Following this affair, the government ordered Minister Dermagne and the FPS Economy to carry out an external audit in order to determine the amount of overpayment by the State for the newspaper concession for years.
At the last minute, Pierre-Yves Dermagne finally retained the services of a consulting company. This is the Brussels office Positive Competition (…).
But the affair turned sour. A first public call on the Belgian market for audit and review companies did not result in any response. The same was true during an international call. And just before the summer, the Court of Auditors dismissed Pierre-Yves Dermagne for “legal incompetence”. In the corridors, people murmured: “The PS is dragging its feet.”
But here it is: at the last minute, Pierre-Yves Dermagne finally retained the services of a consulting company. This is the Brussels office Positive Competitionspecializing in legal proceedings relating to state aid, competition and mergers.
The Deputy Prime Minister PS neither confirms nor denies the information from our colleagues from the Tijd. His spokesperson simply commented: “An external economic analysis office carries out an analysis on behalf of the government and will submit its report at the end of September.”
Three candidates
The Positive Competition report should therefore serve as a basis for budgetary negotiations to decide whether and how much money will be recovered from bpost and if the new concession, for which there are now three candidates (bpost, PPP and the French company Proximy), can continue.
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