The Labour Court in Brussels has ruled that Prince Laurent will not be given the same rights to social security as someone that is self-employed. The court ruled that the King’s younger brother receives an annual grant from the state to carry out duties that are strictly public in nature and as such can not be classed as being self-employed.
Labour Court rules that King’s younger brother should not be given the same rights to social security as a self-employed person
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Prince Laurant had taken the federal department responsible for self-employed people’s social security RSVZ. to the Labour Court. He objected to RSVZ not having allowed him to register as self-employed. The case was the first time in Belgium's 195-year history that a member of the Belgian royal family had taken a public service body to court. In order to carry out his duties representing to monarchy, Prince Laurent receives an annual grant that this year will amount to just under 400,000 euro.
As he receives the grant, Prince Laurent does not fall under any of the three classic categories of people that are in gainful employment. These are civil servant, employee (blue collar/white collar) and self-employed. Consequently, he doesn’t accrue any (state) pension rights nor does he or his family have a right to social sercurity cover or have any entitlement to state/mutual health insurance cover.
Prince Laurent has in the past complained about high hospital bills and claims to have had to leave hospital early because of this. He is also concerned about the financial future of his family after his death. Prince Laurent’s wife Princess Claire receives no grant and will not be entitled to a widow’s pension if she survives her husband.
Pension
Prince Laurent’s lawyer says that some of the grtant he receives is taxed as if it were a wage and that the prince does work for it.
On Monday the Labour Court ruled that Prince Laurent cannot be considered to be self-employed and as such can not be given access to the same social security rights as a self-employed person. The court said that Prince Laurent receives his grant for specific duties that are strictly public in nature. He has a public function and as such is not self-employed.
However, the court did say that the current system of grants for members of the royal family contains “insufficient points” regarding pension rights. This is something that needs to be resolved by legislation.
Princess Astrid also receives a grant for her royal duties. However, as her husband Prince Lorenz has worked all his life as a banker, Princess Astrid’s family does have access to social security and Prince Lorenz will have pension rights once he retires. Prince Laurent’s wife Princess Claire stopped work when she got married.