Belgium gets new coalition government led by N-VA’s Bart De Wever

After seven months of negotiations, five parties have finally struck a coalition deal to form a new federal government under future prime minister Bart De Wever.

The New Flemish Alliance leader and Antwerp mayor is due to be sworn in as Belgium’s new prime minister by King Philippe on Monday morning.

His party N-VA, along with fellow Flemish parties Vooruit and CD&V, and MR and Les Engagés on the French-speaking side, will lead the state until 2029, barring a new crisis and the fall of the government.

The agreement by the Arizona coalition was reached after more than 48 hours of intense discussions at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels.

Following the conclusion of the tortuous negotiations on Friday, the nationalist politician channelled Julius Caesar in posting a message in Latin on social media, reports RTBF. The words “Alea iacta est! [the die is cast]” accompanied a photo of De Wever shaking hands with the Belgian monarch.

The royal palace confirmed that an agreement for a right-leaning coalition had been reached. It is now being formally signing off by members of the participating parties.

The coalition’s new agreement consists of several hundred pages related to federal responsibilities, including taxation, employment and unemployment, pensions, security, immigration, mobility, climate and defence.

RTBF has outlined the principal confirmed measures.

Employment

• Unemployment benefits limited to two years. Following this period, those without work need to contact local social services for assistance, except for those over 55.
• Unemployment benefits will be higher at the start of the unemployment period, but will decrease more quickly than the current level.
• Automatic indexation of wages maintained, but social partners will propose reform.
• The ban on working on Sunday will be lifted; start time for night work pushed back.
• Aim to reduce the number of long-term sick people by making employees, employers and doctors more responsible.
• Goal to achieve an employment rate of 80% and create a difference of €500 between workers and unemployed.

Taxation

• Workers will see an increase in their net salary from 2027 and more significantly from 2029. To achieve this, the government will increase the tax-free portion, reduce the special social security contribution and increase the employment bonus.
• For the minimum wage, the gross salary will be equal to the net salary.
• Several measures planned to help businesses include a cap on employer social security contributions for low and medium wages.
• For personal income tax, the marital quotient will be halved from 2029. The deductibility of donations will drop from 45% to 30%.
• A “solidarity contribution” by the wealthier is planned through a 10% tax on capital gains on financial assets, including crypto. It takes into account capital losses, exemption of the first €10,000 and exemptions from historical capital gains.

Pensions

• Although not a complete harmonisation of pension schemes between employees, self-employed workers and civil servants, the plan is to considerably reduce the advantages of civil servants in terms of retirement age (especially military personnel or SNCB) and pension level.
• Pave the way for retirement at 60 for those who have worked for 42 years.
• Strengthen the conditions for what is considered “actual” work. It will be more complicated to access the full or minimum pension, which risks penalising women.
• The pension bonus recently introduced for those working beyond retirement age will be reformed. A new penalty for those who retire earlier will negatively impact the pension amount.
• Transitional measures and limits to be put in place which cannot postpone the early retirement age by more than two years for under 59s and by more than one year for over 60s.

Defence

• Belgium will increase the share of its defence budget: 2% of GDP in 2029 rising to 2.5% in 2034.
• This budget will be used to purchase equipment and weapons and hire personnel to reach the objective of 29,000 military personnel in 2030, compared to 26,000 in 2021.
• Aim to increase the number of military reservists.
• The military pension, currently set at 56 years, will be increased by one year each year to reach the age of 67, as for all Belgians from 2030.

Asylum and immigration

• Aim to reduce the number of asylum seekers arriving in Belgium by stepping up targeted dissuasion campaigns.
• This reduction, combined with stricter rules for accepting applications (such as checking mobile phones upon arrival), aims to decrease the number of residence permits issued.
• The reduction also aims to lower the number of reception places and thereby save money.
• Step up the return policy for asylum seekers by doubling the number of places in detention centres.

Security

• Reform police training, making it longer and provided by universities and colleges.
• Speed up the fight against drug trafficking by strengthening the skills of the Drugs Commission and by targeting financial transactions.
• Merge and refinance local police forces, in particular the Brussels Region’s current six police zones.

Institutional reform

• Plan to abolish the Senate.
• Belgians living abroad will have the right to vote in regional elections. The top-of-the-list voting system will be neutralised.
• Aim to transfer powers relating to diplomacy and foreign trade to the regions and communities.
• The regions and communities could also decide to make a regional or community holiday a public holiday, such as 11 July  in Flanders.

Health

• Current investment growth is maintained, but will drop to 2% in 2026 and 2027 and then rise again at the end of the legislature and reach 3% in 2029. Its framework is extended in order to finance “the government's priorities”. The Planning Bureau predicts an average annual growth in health care expenditure of 3.3% for the next legislature (2025-2029).
• Aim to reform hospital financing and “nomenclature” during this legislature. Hospital care will no longer be paid per act but per pathology, so it will be necessary to establish the cost of all existing illnesses.
• The current system of doctors registering to be part of the national health service (conventionné/geconventioneerd agreement) is to be encouraged with agreed services made “sufficiently interesting”.
• Long-term patients: opt for numerous return-to-work measures and sanctions for all stakeholders: the employer, the employee, doctors and mutual insurance companies.
• The role of pharmacists to be enlarged, particularly with regard to vaccination and the detection of certain pathologies.
• On mental health, full care for young people is maintained up to the age of 23. Beyond traditional health care, the government wants to expand the offer to other “mental health support” professionals. But it wants to avoid “problematising, medicalising and treating all forms of mental discomfort”.
• Mutual insurance companies strictly prohibited from “political propaganda”.

Justice

• A new master plan for prisons to create more places.
• Punish more severe offences and widen the scope of the “loss of nationality”.
• Lower the age of compulsory schooling to three years.

Foreign affairs

• Limit the European Union to a mainly economic role, which should be a driver for competitiveness, by combatting “overregulation”. The EU is warned that it must respect the distribution of competences and not oversee everything.
• Continue to support Ukraine militarily and humanitarianly and sanction Russia in a targeted and effective manner.
• Support a two-state solution for Palestine in order to ultimately recognise the Palestinian state, while opposing all forms of anti-Semitism.
• Development cooperation maintained but used as a lever to support democracy, the rule of law and “our security”. If necessary, support for certain partner countries may be reviewed.

Mobility

• Emphasis on safety: new concept of “road homicide”, Sécurail staff in train stations equipped with bodycams and able to handcuff unruly people more easily.
• Extensive rail measures: concerning passengers, removal of stops in small stations if no commuters, strengthening of main lines, improvement of timetables. Aim to make SNCB more competitive. Prepare for a possible liberalisation of the market.
• Air travel remains an important means of transport: airports and ports must be better connected to the rail, day and night.

Climate and environment

• The government is not going back on international commitments already made (Paris Agreement, European Green Deal) or on objectives (climate neutrality in 2050, 55% reduction in greenhouse gases in 2030).
• Climate policy includes innovation, optimisation of resources, decarbonisation of the economy, but not a decrease in its growth or any moderation in consumption.
• Climate ambitions to be determined by the budgetary context and the financial capacities of citizens and businesses, in policies agreed with the regions.
• Policy, more incentive than punitive, will be based in particular on taxation, encouraging the renovation of buildings and the installation of heat pumps, while discouraging the installation of thermal or coal boilers.

Energy

• Aim to reverse the 2003 nuclear phase-out law and extend the lifespan of existing nuclear reactors as much as possible.
• Consider building new nuclear reactors.
• Evaluate the possibility of installing offshore wind turbines (at sea), beyond Belgian territorial waters.

Economy and reindustrialisation

• Inter-federal industrial recovery plan and an agenda: MAKE 2030.
• Promote entrepreneurship by reducing small taxes and simplifying administrative procedures.
• Greater competitiveness in the financial sector.
• ATMs in shops.

Purchasing power

• €500 per month: the difference the government aims to reach in five years between the gross salary of someone who works and the benefits received by an unemployed person. The goal is to encourage the latter to return to work.
• Various measures to protect the consumer, concerning energy contracts, mortgages and telephone and internet bills.

Poverty

• The key point in this area is capping social benefits. The idea is that the gap between salaries and social benefits is greater so that “it pays” to work.
• The government wants to increase the fight against social benefit abuse and fraud, such as by strengthening checks by social services.
• Aim to digitise and better control state aid by creating a centralised register.

Simplify administrative and public services

• Merge or integrate Federal Public Service (FPSs) with the aim of reducing the barriers between services and thereby making savings.
• Reduce the use of external consultants in FPSs.
• The Buildings Agency will have to make savings due to increased tele-working and by renting or selling unused state buildings.

Ethics

• On abortion, the five party leaders are committed to changing the law during this legislature, but concrete details are not yet known.
• Remove the anonymity of sperm or egg donors.
• Plan to create a legal framework for surrogate mothers, including for single parents and LGBTQIA+ couples.

Photo: Bart De Wever and King Philippe of Belgium on 31 January ©Belga/Dirk Waem