During the last legislature, Justice received a financial boost – which the FPS itself describes as historic – divided between a structural increase of 581 million euros and the 115 million euros of temporary appropriations that come from European funds. Historic, but not enough.
The FPS is asking the future government to release new resources, failing which “the Justice system will no longer be able to pay the most essential bills (water, electricity, maintenance, etc.) by the end of the year. Not to mention the continuation of reforms…”, the Federal Public Service stressed in a press release on Tuesday.
The FPS is considering a structural increase of 250 million euros in its budget because, it says, “our resources remain insufficient”. The FPS points out that “11% (64 million euros) of the budget for the last four years has gone to bodies other than the FPS Justice and the judiciary (State Security, various commissions such as the Gaming Commission, etc.)”.
Furthermore, linear cost-cutting measures would have forced it to give up more than 80 million euros. Inflation would also have caused the loss, in four years, of 58 million euros. And, finally, the successive salary indexations and the imminent end of the additional temporary credits are also taking their toll.
The budgetary room for manoeuvre is therefore currently non-existent, deplores the FPS. “In fact, we are looking at a deficit of around 60 million euros this year,” it calculates.
But, he argues, more and more criminals are finding themselves in the crosshairs of the Justice system and the number of prisoners is also increasing. Buildings are aging and cost more money, while the Justice system is becoming digital, which is causing even more costs.
spf justice budget government formation
