The province of Walloon Brabant will free up €10 million for actions to support and relaunch activities in the province.
The budget was presented on Thursday at Walloon Brabant's first "post-confinement" provincial council meeting.
The sum comes from the reallocation of all or part of the financial resources dedicated to calls for projects in 2020.
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As it stands, a reserve fund of €5 million will be set up pending the identification of priorities via a study which is currently underway, €3 million will be allocated to help pay off business debts, culture and solidarity actions are allocated €750,000 each, and €500,000 are reserved for support to economic partners.
The province is also preparing a new strategic plan that it will present shortly and budget from 2021, said Mathieu Michel, President of the Walloon Brabant Provincial College.
On the opposition side, the cdH (the French-speaking Christian Democrats) voted in favour of this major budgetary modification.
Ecolo abstained, however. They approve of the plan to support SMEs and very small enterprises, as well as projects in the cultural sector. However, they contested the option of abolishing calls for 2020 projects to mobilise the financial resources for the budgetary modifications.
"What we are proposing today is only a first step, to meet the immediate needs that will be encountered in 2020," Michel said in response. "In 2021, there will be many other projects to be carried out, and we will then be happy to have a borrowing capacity that will still be intact."
The Brussels Times
