The prime minister, Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist N-VA), has responded to today’s National Day of Action staged by Belgium’s three main trades unions. Speaking in the lower house of the Belgian parliament he said he understands people are questioning the reforms, ‘certainly civil servants’. ‘But that is why transitional periods have been provided,’ he stressed.
That reforms are needed is indisputable, says Mr De Wever: ‘Nobody can deny that. And to those who do, I ask the following question: what is the alternative?’
‘Soon there will be more 67-year-olds living in our country than 18-year-olds. If we do not adapt our social systems to reality, we are heading for the biggest budget deficit in the whole of Europe and our social welfare state will become unsustainable and unaffordable.’
Mr De Wever called on his colleagues to be responsible. ‘We must deliver messages that are not always pleasant and dare to defend difficult choices.’
He concluded with an appeal to civil society: ‘Let us not get bogged down in a conflict model in which, against our better judgement, we try to postpone the inevitable. It will not do any good. It will only harm our prosperity.’