“We will not pay” or even “stop austerity”, the activists insisted. “The Belgian progressive parties, thanks to the mobilization of the FGTB, did not vote for these budgetary rules. But their refusal was not enough to stop the machine, because all the others voted for”the union said in a press release.
Elections 2024: “No to austerity!” (FGTB)
”Our goal is to combat the austerity policies that are coming, after the decision of the European Parliament to restart the Maastricht criteria, which had been put on hold due to the health crisis and the war in Ukraine.”, explained the regional secretary of the FGTB, Ahmed Ryadi.
“We estimate that we need to get back on track, which would require a country like Belgium to make a sacrifice of between 5 and 7 billion euros per year, which is enormous. We know that this risks causing great harm to workers, welfare recipients and the most deprived. We ask that we do not touch social security and its unity at the Belgian level, that we find the means to pay elsewhere than among the sick, the unemployed, the pensioners, in particular by taxing large assets.”
According to the FGTB, the criteria set in 1992 by the Maastricht Treaty “are today totally disconnected from the socio-economic reality of the countries to which they apply”. Several socialist union demonstrations took place on Monday, notably in Liège, Brussels, Namur and Verviers.
