Since Wednesday 10AM representatives have been quizzing Belgium’s new federal government ministers in the chamber of representatives, the lower house of the Belgian parliament. Proceedings started with general questions about the government accord agreed by the governing Flemish nationalists, Christian democrats and socialists and Francophone liberals and centrists. The debate continued all through the night and is not over yet, because after the general debate individual ministers will take questions in their field of policy. At the end lawmakers will get to vote on the government’s programme of government, but with a sizeable government majority, the outcome is not in doubt. Still, after 28 hours of virtually uninterrupted debate, PM De Wever got an opportunity to respond to opposition concerns.
Mr De Wever’s team faces round-the-clock questions as MPs discuss new government’s programme
The premier once again listed his government's main priorities and responded to the criticism levelled at him in recent hours.
‘We are very ambitious. Previous administrations did not achieve these targets. We are taking sufficient underlying measures.’
‘The pension reforms are fair and necessary,’ Mr De Wever said. ’We are ensuring that future generations can still enjoy a good retirement. It is a matter of common sense. We are strengthening the link between the work people do and pension rights.’
Mr De Wever also returned to the criticism of the welfare cuts. The lowest benefits will be increased, but the government will also save €2.8 billion. ‘Since the previous government allowed long-term benefits to rise above the index increase, we are able to stop them rising above the index increase during this parliament. If benefits keep rising so strongly you create ever-growing unemployment traps, and the government just wants to close them.’
Finally, Mr De Wever focused on migration and the opposition's criticism of it. ‘We have a firm agreement on migration, strict but fair, ambitious, but within EU law and always with the intention of dealing humanely with foreigners who are on our territory.’
‘We are not going to question them for 28 hours so,’ he said referring, tongue-in-cheek, to the length so far of the debate in parliament. ‘That is against human rights.’
‘We are tightening the returns policy; there will be more detention centres and, in certain cases, homes will be entered,’ the prime minister explained. The aim is to stop Belgium sucking in migrants, Mr De Wever stressed.