MR's Brussels budget memo is 'disappointing if not appalling' - DéFI

MR's Brussels budget memo is 'disappointing if not appalling' - DéFI
MR's Brussels leader David Leisterh and national party leader Georges-Louis Bouchez pictured after a press conference about a proposal for the negotiations to form a new government for the Brussels Capital Region, on Wednesday 28 May 2025, in Brussels. Credit: Belga

The budget memorandum from French-speaking liberals MR delivered to the political group leaders at the Brussels Parliament has been labelled as "disappointing, if not appalling, and incoherent" by the centrist leader of DéFI, Sophie Rohonyi.

She criticised the document for lacking financial figures, even though MR’s Leisterh rightly emphasised the importance of budget recovery following the credit downgrade by Standard & Poor’s.

Rohonyi stated that, without numbers, the proposed savings lack credibility.

Moreover, she highlighted that MR relies on the outgoing budget minister to quantify their proposed savings and ensure these align with the suggested budget trajectory.

This, Rohonyi remarked, is the same minister MR blamed for many of the region’s issues.

Rohonyi also pointed out that the note mostly reiterates the savings from the Regional Political Declaration (DPR) introduced by MR, while this declaration includes numerous costly new policies without identified funding.

She concluded that even if they manage to quantify the measures in the budget note, the anticipated savings might be overshadowed by the cost of other DPR commitments.

This results in considerable uncertainty, she remarked, describing the approach as a series of vague promises, far removed from the ‘engineers’ MR so often praised.

Related News


Copyright © 2025 The Brussels Times. All Rights Reserved.