Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever has sounded the alarm over the future of the NAVAP scheme, a favourable pension scheme for police staff, in a letter to the Federal Government.
The Belgian government is scrapping its financial intervention in the pension scheme on 1 October 2023, leaving local authorities to foot the bill.
On behalf of his colleagues from the other central cities, De Wever is asking for this decision to be reversed until 2030, when the scheme will expire altogether.
However, because the federal intervention is kicking in much sooner, all local governments together are looking at a bill of millions in the coming years.
Retirement wave looms
In Antwerp alone, this already amounts to €3 million a year, and a hefty retirement wave looms across the country, meaning the amount will only increase.
"Instead of helping us to keep the financial situation in our cities and towns manageable, you as a Federal Government are simply passing on a heavy additional cost," De Wever wrote in the letter.
