Not all of the savings and reforms made by the Federal Government, led by Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) are delivering the results originally hoped for, according to an internal document seen by Het Nieuwsblad.
When it took office, De Wever's so-called 'Arizona' government announced it would implement €23 billion worth of cuts. During the budget negotiations in November, a further €9.2 billion was added to this figure.
The document, seen by Het Nieuwsblad, reveals that the expected returns have been overestimated, but also that reforms and savings sometimes yield less than calculated.
'Lost' savings
In total, the office of Budget Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) has listed €3.8 billion in "lost" savings. His document will help shape the upcoming budgetary exercise, as De Wever aims to find €5 billion more over the summer.
The policy area where the greatest discrepancy lies between expectations and reality is asylum and migration. While the number of people coming in has indeed fallen sharply, this has not yet yielded significant savings.
This year, savings of €717 million have not been realised. Without additional measures, this figure will rise to €1.3 billion by 2029.
Additionally, pension reform is yielding less than anticipated, for example. It was supposed to generate €2.4 billion by the end of the legislative term, but with the current measures, "only" €1.6 billion will be achieved.
