In a letter to the Secretary of State for the Budget of the current government, Alexia Bertrand (Open VLD), the chairman of the N-VA explains why a postponement is being requested. “It will be impossible to submit a Belgian medium-term budgetary structural plan to the European Commission within the deadline, namely 20 September 2024. I therefore ask you to ask the European Commission to allow Belgium to submit a new medium-term budgetary structural plan by the end of the year.”
A few days ago, Bart De Wever was still talking about a postponement until November. The new request suggests that the goal of forming an Arizona government (N-VA, MR, Engagés, Vooruit, CD&V) is also postponed until the end of the year.
Belgium is not the only country to request a postponement of the September 20 deadline. France has also done so, given its difficulties in forming its government. Furthermore, Malta and Denmark are the only two EU member states able to meet the September 20 deadline for submitting their multi-annual budget plan to the European Commission, according to the Belga agency.
The result of the new European rules on economic governance adopted with difficulty a few months ago, the “national medium-term plan” defines the budgetary objectives of each State for the coming years, as well as its priority reforms and investments. It will be particularly scrutinized for countries which, like France, Belgium and six other countries (Italy, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Malta and Romania), are subject to a procedure for excessive public deficit.
The Commission has presented these countries with a “reference trajectory” to guide them in preparing their plans. If they meet the EU’s priorities, the period by which their debt level must have returned to “a sustainable downward trajectory” could be extended to 7 years instead of 4 years.
