In several interviews this weekend, PS President Paul Magnette has already advocated that the reduction of VAT on electricity and gas to 6% as well as the extended social tariff should be concrete until the end of 2023, or even the end of 2024. “As long as prices are this high, we have to help people,” Mr. Magnette reasoned.
Alexander De Croo has been at 16 rue de la Loi since 8:30 a.m. for bilateral talks with his deputy prime ministers. Contacts with the “vices” are a standard procedure, which consists of checking what are the expectations and questions in terms of income, expenditure, reforms, etc. In a few weeks, the House of Representatives is expected to give its state of the Union and the Belgian budget which must be put on the table of the European Commission. The budgetary challenge is not small, the monitoring committee having calculated at the beginning of the week that the budget could reach 23 billion euros with unchanged policies.
In the Flemish program De Zevende Dag, Prime Minister De Croo reacted cautiously to Paul Magnette’s remarks. The government decided more than a week ago to extend the reduction in VAT and the extension of the social tariff until the end of March, in addition to the intervention of 200 euros in November and December on utility bills. ‘energy. To tackle the fundamental problem of energy prices, the Prime Minister wants to turn to Europe. One-off measures to deal with the crisis are defensible in his eyes, but for lasting decisions that structurally dig into the budget, Mr De Croo prefers to wait.
Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau reaffirmed on the same show that his party has always been in favor of a reduction in VAT to 6% because it is a basic product. For the social tariff, Rousseau recommends a reform. Today, this social rate is “black and white” – either you get it or you don’t. He wants to adapt the principle so that more people can benefit from it, but not all to the same extent.