Brussels Minister of Budget in current affairs, Sven Gatz, announced that negotiations to form a new Brussels government are starting, hoping to send a positive signal to the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P).
The minister revealed this on Friday during a plenary debate in the Brussels Parliament concerning the fourth instalment of provisional budget twelfths for the current year.
In a report released this summer, the monitoring committee warned that the Brussels Region could face liquidity problems if its credit rating is downgraded further.
For now, the Region can still finance its debt, Gatz assured. However, he admitted that the overall financial situation has not significantly improved and emphasised the importance of adopting a full-year budget amid rising debt-servicing costs.
This week’s preliminary steps in the budget negotiations featured prominently in the debate, which unfolded in a calmer atmosphere compared to similar discussions earlier this year.
