Belgium will receive at least 95% of its first tranche of European Union (EU) recovery fund payments in July, assured the Secretary of State for Recovery, Thomas Dermine (PS), on a visit to the EU Biotech Campus in Gosselies in Charleroi on Monday.
This initial tranche, estimated at around €974 million, was requested by Belgium from the European Commission in September. However, the Commission had demanded audit and control assurances linked to final beneficiaries (UBO register) and the avoidance of dual financing (ensuring a project is not funded twice), in addition to its concerns regarding pension reform.
For technical reasons, Flanders and the French Community Government (the Wallonia-Brussels Federation) had to complete several tasks to meet the threshold that the Commission had put forward a few months ago to unlock the funds.
However, the EU executive will release "at least 95%" of this initial tranche in July and possibly up to 100% based on its evaluation of the recent pension reform, which was voted on last Thursday, according to Dermine.
Dermine elaborated that the reform needed to increase minimum pensions, reduce pension regime inequality and encourage working longer (a pension bonus), and although he felt the budget trajectory was improving, it was up to interpretation.
If 100% of the first tranche is not released in July, the remainder will be left pending until a new evaluation by the Commission. However, it’s considered unlikely the Commission will impose a penalty.
€5.3 billion for Belgium
Belgium lags behind other European nations in receiving recovery fund releases but has continued to advance projects using loans. In July 2021, the country received a first pre-financing instalment of €770 million. A second pre-financing of €145 million was released earlier this year.
The total estimated cost of Belgium’s recovery plan is €5.3 billion, primarily covered by European subsidies (over €5 billion), with €264 million in loans. A second tranche exceeding €1 billion will be requested by Belgium in June. Four more instalments are due by the end of 2026.
Assessing progress mid-term (2021-2026) as of April 2025, Dermine confirmed that 87% of recovery plan projects were finalised or well underway, with 13% postponed or unfinished.
On Monday and Tuesday, Belgian authorities and the European Commission are jointly contemplating developments and the future of the plan. European Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, was in Charleroi on Monday to examine two completed projects: the EU Biotech Campus, at Biopark Gosselies, which provides training in the Biotech sector, and the A6K-E6K technology and digital centre, a hub bringing together industrial enterprises, startups, research centres, and universities.
Dermine argued that the EU needs to replicate this recovery model based on unprecedented shared debt in the near future. He believes the Russian aggression in Ukraine will prompt the EU to deploy a similar mechanism for the defence sector.
He perceives this developing budgetary capacity as a tool for EU federalism. In his view, shared debt needs fiscal consolidation through the EU’s own resources, such as digital giant taxes, European wealth tax, carbon border tax, etc. He also deemed treaty revisions necessary to improve the democratic governance of the EU and its legitimacy.
