The Council of Ministers approved last week the reorganisation of federal administrations as proposed by Minister of Public Service Vanessa Matz and Minister of Budget Vincent Van Peteghem.
The restructuring aims to save €300 million, according to reports by La Libre and De Tijd.
Several agencies dealing with asylum and immigration will be merged into a new Ministry of Migration service; however, each agency is expected to maintain its autonomy.
The Public Planning Service (PPS) Social Integration will be merged into the Ministry of Social Security, which will also integrate the Ministry of Employment.
The PPS Scientific Policy (Belspo) will become an autonomous directorate within the Ministry of Economy.
The country’s ten federal scientific institutions, including the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the State Archives, for example, will be grouped into two thematic entities named “Earth and Space” and “Arts and Heritage”. These autonomous structures will receive support from a service linked to the Federal public service (FPS) for policy and support, FPS Bosa.
The FPS Chancellery will focus on its role as a support service for the prime minister.
The reorganisation also introduces a new Digital Agency to coordinate IT and technology-related initiatives.
Additionally, the Buildings Authority will evolve into the “Federal Agency for Buildings and Facilitation Services”, tasked with managing public buildings, overseeing procurement for public works, and providing facilitation services such as cleaning and security for government properties.
Ministers from the Engagés and CD&V parties aim to reduce reliance on external consultancy. The principle is that regular statutory or contractual staff should handle non-specialised IT functions and repetitive tasks.
They also plan to expand systematic “spending reviews” of public policies and expenditures in collaboration with the National Bank, the Planning Bureau, the Inspectorate of Finance, and the FPS Bosa.
