University researchers have identified 26 issues that Belgium needs to resolve over the next decade.
Some of the issues relate to pensions, education and the climate and the researchers conclude that the cost will be huge, with the State needing to find 9,000 billion euros before 2030.
During three months of research researchers held meetings with the the Club of Brussels think tank and business incubator Extrapreneurs.
They identified 26 issues, including natural disasters, pensions, energy transition, cybersecurity and long-term absence. The estimated bill is 9,000 billion euros, more than 20 times Belgium’s GDP.
“It was a huge shock. All these issues are converging: they have all fallen at the same time, before 2030. We’ve never seen this before,” said Michel Kemmeter, founder of the Club of Brussels think-tank and professor at VUB’s Vesalius college.
Kemmeter remains optimistic however. “This is the first time a window like this has opened. The power is really in the hands of the people and their entrepreneurial creativity. Business owners and politicians are terrified by the amplitude of these multiple issues.”
“There is no choice: we can no longer think in a linear manner which consists of finding a solution for each issue. We have to scrap the traditional economic way of thinking and our political leaders subsidised micro-solutions.”
The Brussels Times
