In a call for increased defence funding, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has suggested that all options, including new taxes, should be considered.
Prévot (Les Engagés), stated he could not dismiss the possibility of new taxes as a means to boost defence spending.
This comes amid discussions within NATO, where member countries reportedly agreed on a new target of allocating 5% of GDP to defence.
This target includes 3.5% for military expenses and 1.5% for related investments such as cybersecurity and misinformation defence, according to Prévot.
He reiterated this stance in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, just a day after speaking on RTL-TVi.
While Spain opposes the new target and is expected to receive an exemption, Prévot argued that Belgium cannot similarly resist this requirement due to its historical underachievement in defence spending.
He criticised the idea of maintaining the current 2% GDP contribution as unrealistic and counterproductive, urging Belgium to signal its intention to increase expenditure over time.
The central challenge remains identifying the source of additional defence funding. Prévot acknowledged the difficulty in even reaching the current 2% GDP target and suggested that relying on one-off revenue is not sustainable.
The options on the table include generating new income, cutting spending, or incurring debt, with his party viewing new taxes as a last resort, but still a viable option.
"To be honest, we still don't know how we are going to find the extra 4 billion to reach 2% this year. We are mainly counting on one-off, temporary income. But that is, of course, finite. So we will have to find structural financing very quickly," he says.
There are three options: new revenue, spending cuts or borrowing, which, according to Prévot, must be considered "without taboos. New taxes are "certainly not the first option" for his party, but they are one of the options. "Money does not grow on trees."
