Belgian justice service exhausts budget, halts payments to interpreters and tow firms

Providers told payments are suspended

On Friday, 6 November, self-employed workers and companies that the federal justice service works with received an email. It said the original budget allocated to the service had been used up, and that payments for invoices and expense claims covering criminal-case costs were suspended. Het Belang van Limburg and Sudinfo reported the halt on Monday, 9 November. The affected group includes court interpreters, undertakers, toxicologists, locksmiths, tow services and forensic doctors. Some unpaid invoices reach tens of thousands of euros.

Why the budget ran out

The federal justice service said demand for expert reports has risen sharply over the past several years, leaving the budget for criminal-case costs insufficient. Its spokesperson, Sharon Beavis, said most of the payments go to translators and interpreters, with an extra burden from medical services. The spokesperson described the situation as exceptional. The service has also run short of money for outside experts before year end in each of the past three years.

Interpreters and tow firms under strain

Benjamin Van Hemelryck, a member of Lextra Lingua, the professional association for sworn interpreters, described the consequences in an interview with Het Belang van Limburg:

“Many interpreters are giving up, and we are already facing a shortage.”

He added that people who are not paid for a time may run into financial difficulty. BTL Claes, a breakdown service in Houthalen, has an unpaid invoice of 35,000 euros with the justice service. A colleague firm in Hechtel-Eksel is already tens of thousands of euros in the red. Tow firms faced a similar payment backlog in 2025, when a staff shortage at the appraisal bureaus delayed payments, and they threatened to block all the main motorways. That idea is circulating again among tow operators.

Impact on hearings and criminal cases

Sarah Leclère, vice-president of the Ordre des barreaux francophone et germanophone de Belgique, said the problem reaches the whole judicial chain. She said it feels like the situation recurs almost every year. She warned that case processing times, already very long, would be extended considerably. She put the effect on hearings this way:

“Hearings can be postponed if there is no interpreter, and ongoing criminal cases will be delayed.”

Extra funding without a release date

An agreement on additional budget exists, but the date on which the money will be released remains unclear. The spokesperson said the administrative procedure to free the extra funds is close to completion:

“Despite the difficult budget situation, there is an agreement on additional resources.”

The service acknowledged that waiting for payment is hard for the affected providers, describing the case as exceptional and adding that its payment terms are generally respected. Until the money is released, the suspended invoices stay unpaid, and the providers have no timetable for payment.