2023-09-25 16:17:10
The Flemish Region will once once more grant attractive bonuses for the purchase of a new or used electric car. On the other hand, it eliminates aid for solar panels.
The Flemish government has decided to establish a bonus for those who will buy an electric car in the years to come. The bonus will apply to around thirty models costing less than 40,000 euros including VAT.
The bonus for the purchase of a new car will be 5,000 euros in 2024, and will drop to 4,000 euros in 2025 and 3,000 euros in 2026. For the acquisition of a used car, the bonus will be 3,000 euros in 2024, 2,500 euros in 2025 and 2,000 euros in 2026.
The subsidy aims toencourage people who do not have a company car to switch to electric vehicles. Currently, less than one in ten electric cars is sold to individuals. In addition to individuals, non-profit organizations and shared mobility operators will be able to request the bonus.
“The degression of aid aims to anticipate future developments in the market. Prices of zero-emission cars will fall as soon as the second-hand market develops“, explains Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), the Flemish Minister of Mobility. To avoid fraud, recipients of a bonus are not authorized to resell their vehicle within three years.”
Currently, there are 25 electric cars sold for less than 40,000 euros on our market. These are mainly small city cars such as the Fiat 500e and the Renault Twingo Electric. Chinese brands like Aiways and MG offer small SUVs for less than 40,000 euros.
“Investments in solar panels have been shown to be profitable without public assistance.”
As the premium is fixed, it is the price of the electric Dacia Spring which is falling the most proportionally. Today, it is offered for sale from 20,990 euros. Thus, the Flemish Region will cover almost a quarter of the bill.
At the beginning of 2020, the Flemish government abolished a similar bonus system. But the fear of seeing used Belgian electric cars resold in the Netherlands convinced him to reintroduce bonuses.
Premature end of aid for solar panels
We may also be surprised by the fact that Flanders prematurely ends bonuses for solar panels. While the government currently grants 750 euros per installation, the amount was to fall to 375 euros at the start of 2024. But it has decided to end the bonus from January 1.
“It has been shown that investments in solar panels are profitable without public aid. This is why we will stop aid on January 1, 2024 instead of January 1, 2025. This is perfectly responsible and will certainly not slow down the transition energy”, underlines Zuhal Demir, Flemish Minister (N-VA) of the Environment and Energy, who refers to an analysis by the Flemish Climate and Energy Agency (VEKA). According to this study, the premium leads to an excessive subsidy while the recovery period of the investment is already very short. The capacity of Flemish solar panels increased from 4,497 to 5,543 megawatts (MW) over the last twelve months.
Refinanced nurseries and increased employment bonus for low wages
In his “September declaration” to the Flemish Parliament, the Minister-President of the Region Jan Jambon (N-VA) announced or clarified several measures arising from the budget agreement for the year 2024.
So, refinancing of nurseries will be implemented for an amount of 270 million euros, which meets the demand of one of the members of the ruling coalition, the Christian Democrats of the CD&V. These additional resources will be used to create better quality jobs and reduce work pressure on existing staff.
The Flemish government also intends to provide more support to working people by increasing, next year, the existing employment bonus of 100 euros (per year) for low-income employees. The latter will now receive a maximum of 700 euros instead of 600 euros net per year. The group of beneficiaries will also be expanded: it will include people earning less than 3,100 euros gross, compared to a threshold of 2,900 euros currently.
Still for low incomes, households renovating their homes will benefit from increased aid and a protection mechanism once morest excessively significant increases in their electricity bill.
Moreover, there is no longer any question of increasing the price of service vouchers. The N-VA considered this measure too sensitive nine months before the elections.
On the side of (large) companies, the plan to put an end to subsidies for the purchase of solar panels is definitively buried. On the other hand, the reduction in wage costs for recruiting older workers will be reduced, due to its relative ineffectiveness.
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