PMore than 5,000 FGTB activists demonstrated in several Walloon towns as well as in Brussels to denounce the new budgetary austerity rules voted at the end of April by the European Parliament. According to the socialist union, this austerity “plan” could deal a “fatal blow” to hospitals, education, public services, but also health care and social security. The union also mobilized in Flanders, in Bruges, Genk and Aalst.
These new European austerity rules aim to guarantee the recovery of public finances in Member States and limit the public administration deficit for each country to 3% of GDP and the debt to 60%. For Belgium, this represents an annual saving of around 30 billion euros by 2028, with a first level of 7 billion from 2025.
In Brussels, around 300 demonstrators gathered at Place Jean Rey, brandishing signs with slogans such as “Hands off our public services” and “Social is vital, resources now!” “. The general secretary of the FGTB Brussels, Florence Lepoivre, notably underlined that these new measures were taken “unilaterally by the right-wing and far-right parties”, calling on citizens to vote for the left-wing parties on Sunday. Because the latter are “the only ones to have spoken out against these budgetary rules”, which are intended to “kill solidarity and public services in Europe”.
The city of Mons experienced the strongest mobilization with 3,000 demonstrators from the regional regions of the Center, Picardy Wallonia and Mons-Borinage. They marched from the station to the Grand-Place, chanting “We will not pay” and “Stop austerity”. The new budgetary rules risk “hurting workers, social welfare recipients and the most deprived,” explained the regional secretary of the FGTB, Ahmed Ryadi. The latter asked to find “ways to pay elsewhere than among the sick, the unemployed and pensioners”, in particular by taxing large assets.
In Liège, several dozen affiliates gathered at Place Saint-Paul, disrupting the Tec-Liège-Verviers network. Leaflets were also distributed at the Liège-Guillemins station, at the CHR de la Citadelle and at the Médiacité shopping center. “Our message to political parties is clear, whether at the Walloon level, at the federal level and at the European level: we do not want your austerity and we are not going to let it happen,” launched Jean-François Tamellini, secretary. general of the Walloon FGTB, adding that the issue of the elections on June 9 was “crucial”.
Around 500 activists also flocked to Namur, starting from Avenue Fernand Golenvaux to stroll through the Walloon capital. A large banner “30 billion euros in savings, we will no longer pay” was displayed on the citadel. According to the FGTB, the next elections will be “crucial” in guiding policies to release these substantial amounts. Union representatives called for votes for progressive parties on Sunday. The latter will increase “revenues through fairer taxation” and will invest “in public services and social well-being”, unlike the right which “will try to reduce spending by cutting health care, social welfare benefits”. unemployment and public services.
In Verviers, moreover, 600 activists marched to express their dissatisfaction with these European budgetary measures, according to figures from the FGTB.
The socialist union also organized actions in Flanders. Around 80 activists went to the AZ Sint-Jan hospital in Bruges, 250 climbed a slag heap in Genk-Waterschei and more than 250 others gathered in Aalst.
The De Lijn bus service was also disrupted in the north of the country. Nearly six out of ten buses and trams ran normally.
){kind=link}