The Belgian justice ministry today warned it couldn’t pay the bills if it doesn’t get extra cash. The request will be a challenge for the next government that is expected to have to find up to 25 billion euros extra in cuts and fresh revenue over the next seven years. While efforts continue to form a new federal team the justice ministry has set out its needs.
The justice department hasn’t been a department where budgets were cut sharply in recent years. The outgoing federal government handed the department an extra 581 million euros over the last four years, out of a total budget of some 2 billion euros. "Not peanuts," they admit at the department.
With this extra cash, the justice ministry was able to create much-needed extra places in prisons, hire thousands of new staff and spend a lot of money on digitalisation.
And yet the extra millions are still not enough the department claims. For instance, the justice ministry also had to make savings worth 80 million euros, inflation weighed on operating costs and indexations pushed up wage costs. Moreover, demand continued to rise: more cases, more detainees, the continuing need for digitalisation and the rising cost of outdated buildings.
"In practice, budgetary breathing space is non-existent," the ministry warns in a press release. "Indeed, we are looking at a deficit of around 60 million euros this year." Not good news at a time when hefty cuts may be on the way across government to tackle the deficit.
Prisons need escape valve
This explains why the justice ministry is now putting forward a wish list, for the new government. In it, the service asks for "a structural budget increase of 250 million euros". "With this extra clout, we can both cover the highest needs and reform our organisation."
How does the justice ministry want to reform its operations? It has some ideas. For prisons, for example: yes, capacity needs to be increased and buildings need to be modernised, but the justice ministry also wants a quota on the maximum number of prisoners per prison.
"It should be clear from which limit no more prisoners will be admitted to a prison," says Sarah Blancke, the chair of the justice ministry’s executive. "The first task is to make sure everybody has a bed!"
And when overcrowding threatens, legal measures should be in place to serve as a kind of 'escape valve': for example: all short sentences should temporarily only involve electronic tagging or even provisional release.
Close buildings
According to the justice ministry, most of the 225-plus courthouses in Belgium no longer meet current welfare and security standards. And because there is too little money to maintain them, they continue to deteriorate.
"We regularly see reports in the press of buildings where there are leaks or where the archives are not in order," says Blancke. "So we have to ask ourselves whether we can renovate all these buildings. In the Netherlands, for example, they only have 50 courthouses."
The ministry is proposing the closure of as many as 100 buildings over the next 5 to 15 years. By regrouping courts and putting more effort into digitalisation, it should be able to absorb this. With the savings, the remaining buildings can be modernised and maintained. "I think this is a win-win for everyone," Blancke said.
Devastating audit report
While the memorandum contains some tantalising proposals, the timing is quite remarkable. Just over a month ago, the audit court rounded on the ministry. In a scathing (draft) report, the service's management was labelled "failing", "passive" and "irresponsible", especially when it came to digitisation.
It gave examples: there is "insufficient attention to the risk of fraud", especially when it comes to cooperation with consultancy firms. Furthermore, the justice ministry lacks a clear strategy for digitalisation and there is a lot of ambiguity, mutual competition and a lack of trust at play. "Moreover, because there is no assessment of the sustainability of projects, there is a risk that budgets are currently spent for nothing," the audit court stated.
The report came on top of earlier reports claiming that the justice ministry does not seem to follow its own rules when it comes to contracts and that it has long overpaid Bpost for an office building. For years the government department has also been pumping money into modern courtrooms in prisons that are rarely, if ever, used, because lawyers and judges fear that this would compromise the openness of the justice system. Or as lawyer John Maes put it late last year, "This is taking taxpayers' money too lightly."