How will the budgetary efforts claimed by the Mouvement Républicain (MR) and Les Engagés in their Regional Policy Declaration (DPR) for Wallonia be distributed? This question has been on everyone’s lips since the document was presented on Thursday evening.
Economist Philippe Defeyt, in an analysis published on Friday, expresses concerns about the effect of the announced measures on public sector, particularly the ending of permanent appointments.
The incoming Walloon government believes the current system to be incapable of rewarding merit. Going forward, new hires will be given open-ended contracts, it promises. However, Defeyt worries that this could also remove a key protection in the current appointment system: the ability to express an administrative point of view without fear of political reprisals.
Another imbalance threatens to be created, this time within different public sectors, notes the economist. He doubts that the proposed approach, targeting education and administration in particular, will be extended to the police, where appointments happen after a year. Defeyt fears a two-speed public sector, in which a police officer might have more rights to a position than a teacher.
The DPR clarification states that the end of the statutory regime will not affect “roles in authority.”
The economist, also a former co-president of Ecolo, reviews a series of measures announced in the DPR. However, he finds it “difficult” to comment on everything from an equality perspective given the ongoing ambiguity about what constitutes a “fair effort from everyone” for the future Walloon government.
