European Commission gives Belgium March deadline to submit budget plans
The European Commission has given Belgium until mid-March to submit its budget plans for the coming years, a Commission spokesperson announced on Tuesday.
Belgium should have submitted a structural plan for the budget, reforms and medium-term investments in September, but due to the ongoing negotiations on the formation of a federal government, the country requested a second postponement on 26 December.
The Commission has now set the deadline for mid-March, according to a letter it sent to the government on 7 February. It believes that “a limited further postponement of the submission of the plan will not be detrimental to the quality of macroeconomic surveillance and budgetary discipline”, a spokesperson said.
The new deadline gives the Commission six weeks to evaluate the plans. By the end of April, Bart De Wever’s government must also inform the Commission of the measures it is taking to eliminate its excessive budget deficit.
Belgium’s budget deficit is higher than the EU threshold of 3 per cent of gross domestic product. In the absence of a government, a European reference trajectory over four years was established in November, which obliges Belgium to eliminate the excessive deficit by 2027.
However, some flexibility can be shown if Belgium can demonstrate with a credible plan of reforms and investments that it can sustainably improve public finances over a maximum period of seven years.
Budget minister Vincent Van Peteghem, Economy and Work minister David Clarinval and prime minister Bart De Wever during a plenary session of the chamber of the federal parliament in Brussels, 6 February 2025 © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
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