Nevertheless, the financing of this tax reform remains unclear. This perhaps explains the difference between the “worst case scenario”, presented by the former Secretary of State for the Budget, Eva De Bleeker (Open Vld) and the more optimistic scenario of the Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo.
This vagueness does not reassure Europe, because Belgium is already singled out for its budgetary policy. “For now, European rules are not necessary”, recalls Vincent Van Peteghem. Indeed, the European Commission has activated in 2020 “The general escape clause”which originally allowed states to set aside fiscal rules to take the necessary measures to get through the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are now in an energy and purchasing power crisis. Europe and the Belgian government have decided to support families and single people by helping them to pay their bills”defends the Deputy Prime Minister.
But Belgium is not the only country to have implemented aid measures. The other European governments have also released budgets to help their people, without increasing their deficit as much as Belgium. “This is why we need structural reforms. Our deficit does not exist just because we are helping people today, but because it is structural”he says. “The only way to solve it is to make reforms in pensions, in the labor market, but also in taxation.”
In a context of crisis, these reforms seem difficult to carry out. “Today, we must turn the page and ask ourselves what we can do to be more than a crisis government”he continues.