2023-10-02 04:37:00
The federal government got to the heart of the matter over the weekend by beginning to prepare its 2024 budget, the last before the June elections. For the Green Deputy Prime Minister, Georges Gilkinet, we must look for resources in “the excess profits” of the banks. He also pleads for the government to implement part of the tax reform in order to increase low and medium salaries “up to 300 euros net per month”.
Will the federal government close its budget as easily as the Flemish government? In an election year, we generally avoid bad news.
A budgetary exercise is always difficult because we confront different political ideas. Nevertheless, we prepared well for this exercise. We decided to prepare the 2023 and 2024 budgets at the same time. The lines are drawn. We must finish the work by finding between 800 million and 1.2 billion euros.
Budget conclave: socialists want to tax excess bank profits
What are Écolo’s priorities?
One: continue to protect the most vulnerable citizens. Two: continue to invest in the transition. And three: make the broadest shoulders contribute.
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Part of the profits of the banking sector must return to the community. This is a fair return of things since the banks have been heavily aided by the State in the past.
In this regard, are you advocating an increase in the tax on securities accounts (it is 0.15% from one million euros)? The PS would like to triple or even quadruple it.
Yes, increasing this contribution is an option that we had on the table during discussions on tax reform (which failed in July, Editor’s note). The other avenue is a contribution from excess profits from the banking sector. The profits of the banking sector are six billion euros in 2021. Ten billion in 2022. BNP Paribas Fortis alone is more than three billion euros. And this continues in 2023. This situation comes from the rise in interest rates. Part of these profits must return to the community.
Federal budget: the PS wants to quadruple the tax on securities accounts
What form would this contribution take?
Should we go through a charge on the exceptional profits of the banks? By an amount proportional to their investment volume? I don’t care what the path is. It’s the result that counts. Tinne Van der Straeten (Green Energy Minister) managed to do this with the energy sector, which made enormous super-profits by taking advantage of the international situation. Today we must do this with the banking sector to finance the transition and allow society to function better. It seems to me that this is a fair return given that the banking sector has been heavily aided by the State in the past.
What amounts is it possible to collect, in your opinion?
The capital contribution must represent approximately one third of the effort to be made for the budgetary year. We must be able to raise 300 or 400 million euros – whether through the contribution to securities accounts, excess profits from banks, etc. I also think that we have one last chance during these budgetary discussions to achieve part of the tax reform, namely the tax credit on low and middle salaries. This represents up to 300 euros net more per month. This is a measure that makes a difference for these people, which will drive our economy, and which will improve the employment rate.
Will tax reform be one of the main issues in the formation of the next government following the June 2024 elections?
I think so, yes. The tax reform might not succeed because one of the partners (it targets the MR, Editor’s note) did not play the game. It will be necessary to be able to make it a reality under the next legislature. With partners of good will, we are able to carry out tax reform following the elections.
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With Georges-Louis Bouchez’s MR, it’s very difficult to work. He isolated himself on the political map.
Who will be Écolo’s preferred partners following the elections?
The first criterion will be to find partners who will be ready to accelerate the transition. It will be very difficult for the N-VA. They are climate skeptics…
The N-VA is not climate skeptic. She does not deny the human impact on global warming.
They are not “climate-committed”, if I want to qualify the point. They are not interested in preserving biodiversity. Furthermore, we have a different social project than them. They do not believe in the added value of Belgium, unlike the seven partners of the Vivaldi majority. And I saw what the N-VA did with the MR: index jump, disorganization of our security services, unfunded tax reform… With the N-VA, it will be very complicated. We can work with the other parties, but some are more willing than others. The MR of Georges-Louis Bouchez isolated himself on the political map.
The president of the PS, Paul Magnette, said in La Libre his preference for “a government without the N-VA and, if possible, without the MR”. Would you say the same thing?
With this MR, it’s very difficult to work. We were able to reach agreements, but his way of doing politics is problematic, with excessively conservative axes which are also problematic.
Paul Magnette: “My preference is for a government without the N-VA and, if possible, without the MR”
Should Belgium, yes or no, send F-16s to Ukraine? “The question does not arise today. We don’t have any F-16s available. And I want each decision taken to be measured according to its consequences,” answers Georges Gilkinet.
Two weeks ago, the MR announced that, at his request, the government was going to ask Defense to study the possibility of delivering combat-ready fighter planes to Ukraine, citing the figure of 2 to 4 planes to be supplied from 2024. Nothing might be further from the truth, dryly replied the Minister of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder (PS). The study concerns F-16s to be donated once they have been decommissioned, in three or four years…
“What the MR said is not the decision taken by the government,” confirms the Deputy Prime Minister. I don’t understand this attitude which consists of making a decision and, the same day, telling things in the press which are not in conformity with what we have decided collectively.”
Ludivine Dedonder: “If I had F-16s to give to Ukraine, I would give them. But I am not going to jeopardize the security of our population”
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