More than a month later than planned the Federal Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) has presented his government’s budget and policy plan before the Federal Parliament. An agreement on the multi-year budget was reached early on Monday morning.
Mr De Wever told the Chamber of Representatives that there was no other choice than to take the difficult decisions contained in budget.
The Federal Prime Minister is usually found of using e Latin quotes. However, on Wednesday morning he made references to Greek mythology during his speech. "This reminds me a little of the fork in the road for Heracles. The Greek hero had to choose between two paths, each embodied by a goddess: the path of the sinner Kakia and that of the virtuous Arete. (...) Heracles correctly chose Arete, the difficult path. Eventually he reached Olympus and became part of the community of gods.", Mr De Wever said.
"Today in this country we are still far from reaching Olympus. This must be made very clearly. But let there be no doubt that this government has the courage to follow the path of Arete", Prime Minister De Wever said.
An additional 1,000-euro net per annum by 2030
“By 2030, those in employment can expect to earn an average of around 1,000 more net per annum” Promoting work is one of the core beliefs of this government. We will achieve this not only through labor market reforms, but also through tax reforms." Mr De Wever said without elaborating on the measures that would be taken to ensure.
According to the budget agreement reached on Monday, the tax reform will be brought forward and get under way in 2026. A second phase will tack effect in 2028 (a year earlier than planned) while the third phase will take effect a year later than originally planned in 2030.