Vooruit's Conner Rousseau wants more from wealthy to unblock Belgian budget talks

Talks stalled over Vooruit's conditions

Budget negotiations within the Arizona coalition have not yet restarted in earnest. A week after reservations voiced by socialist vice prime minister Frank Vandenbroucke, Vooruit president Conner Rousseau remains cautious and has not given his green light. Speaking on Wednesday, 28 October, he said he will first look at what Prime Minister Bart De Wever proposes and puts on the table. Vooruit expects a fairer and more equitable proposal and refuses to let budget consolidation rest mainly on workers, pensioners and health care.

The contribution of large fortunes

The main sticking point is how much the largest fortunes contribute. The options currently discussed would represent about one billion euros, notably through management companies, securities accounts and multi-property owners. Rousseau wants more and sets a target of 1.5 billion euros to restore a better balance. He notes that the savings planned in pensions and health care are already detailed, while the measures aimed at the wealthiest remain far too vague in his view. He personally favours a tax on millionaires inspired by the work of economist Gabriel Zucman, but he does not make it an absolute condition. What matters to him, he stressed, is the amount actually raised.

He put the point bluntly when asked where the money should come from.

“A euro paid by millionaires should not have to be found in health care.”

Social benefits and fraud

On social savings, Rousseau rejects the idea of ending benefits for long-term sick people after two years, including for burn-out. Asked about that option, he said such a limit cannot be written into law in that way.

“You cannot say in a law that you can only have a burn-out for two years, that does not work like that, I think.”

He prefers a policy that combines investment in health care with support for a return to work. Vooruit is not opposed to every social security reform. Rousseau says he is ready to fight abuse, provided the effort does not focus only on social benefit recipients, and that fraud must be tackled at both the bottom and the top of the scale.

No collapse, but no quick deal

Rousseau also said a fallback to provisional twelfths, the regime Belgium operated under last year, would not be the end of the world, although the prime minister has already rejected it. He stressed that a good and fair agreement matters more than speed. Despite the deadlock, he does not foresee the government falling and a return to the polls.

“Let us avoid elections. Nobody wants them.”