Federal Climate Minister Jean-Luc Crucke on Wednesday urged Belgium to pair planned federal spending cuts with major investment in rail, electrification and climate action to support future economic growth.
Speaking on La Première, RTBF’s radio station, the Les Engagés minister warned that limiting policy to austerity alone risked deepening economic gloom. He said the economy must be redirected towards sectors with long-term potential.
Crucke called for Belgium to make use of the budget flexibility proposed by the European Commission in June. Under the plan, member states can ask for an exemption from EU budget rules, initially designed for defence spending, to be extended to investment in energy security.
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He said this could cover spending on electrification, electricity grids, energy storage and renewable power. The flexibility would be capped at 0.3% of GDP per year, equivalent to about €2 billion annually for Belgium.
The minister said substantial investment would be needed to strengthen electricity networks, at a cost of between €200 million and €300 million, and to electrify the rail system, which he put at €200 million. Support for the purchase of electric vehicles could also be considered, he added.
While backing the need to find €10 billion in savings to bring the deficit back within permitted limits and avoid a worsening fiscal spiral, Crucke said Les Engagés would see the budget talks as a failure if they ended without measures to boost the climate transition and protect purchasing power. “That would be a failure for Les Engagés,” he said.
