Belgium to cut development cooperation funding by a quarter
Belgian federal government funding for development cooperation will fall by a quarter in the next legislature, new Foreign minister Maxime Prévot said on Thursday.
Prévot confirmed the substantial budget cut during a marathon debate on the new government's programme in the Chamber of Representatives. MPs have been taken turns to criticise or defend the coalition agreement since Wednesday morning. After a full day and night, the debate was still ongoing at 18.00 on Thursday.
Leaked negotiating texts had previously revealed that funds for development cooperation were at risk. According to MP Staf Aerts, the government is putting lives at risk with this decision.
Reciprocal relationship
Prévot said he "prefers to see the glass half full". "During the negotiations, there was talk of a complete regionalisation of development cooperation. There was talk of a 50 per cent effort. I am satisfied that we were able to limit it to 25 per cent, although I know that even that will have an impact," he said.
"You say that development cooperation is important, but your actions show the opposite"
The minister, who leads the French-speaking centrist party Les Engagés, said he wanted to base international partnerships more on a "reciprocal relationship" in the coming years. One example, he said, was that Belgium should ask itself whether it should continue to shelter criminal illegal immigrants because their countries of origin refuse to take them back.
Staf Aerts of the Flemish green party Groen criticised the budget cut. "You say that development cooperation is important, but your actions show the opposite. The government is putting people's lives at risk and we will continue to fight against this," he said.
A Unicef project providing cash assistance to teenage girls in Kampala, Uganda, visited during a Belgian development cooperation mission in March 2023 © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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