The government is getting ready to clean up the Social security balance dotation, the Echo wrote on Saturday. It got hold of an orientation note which the heads of Michel’s team based themselves on this week. The advanced objective is to evolve towards greater “transparency” and “responsibilisation”. At the heart of the management mechanism is the Social security contribution towards budget objectives.
Two thirds of social security is financed by social contributions and a third by alternative finance. A quarter of it is made up of VAT payments. The State also gives out various subventions, including a balance dotation that will allow them to keep the accounts afloat.
Faced with the fall in contributions over the last few years, alternative finance and balance dotation go up regularly.
In a note written by the Social Affairs and Health minister Maggie De Block and the Social integration and middle classes minister Willy Borsus, the government says it wants to keep the three pillars of the Social security finance. But it also wants to set up a sort of check-list that needs to be verified before the subventions are given. These include “Social security contributions towards budget objectives”.
New measures against social fraud and “improper use” mechanisms should eventually be put in place. For social agreement, social partners are asked to reach neutral budget results. The government will decide on its execution, and act if those involved don’t reach their objectives. The decision to apply the measures to possible deviations or use dotation will be made through “political refereeing”.
A Budget Finance Commission (CFB), a sort of Social Security monitoring committee, should deal with deviations.
More globally, the government’s ambition is to reform the financing of Social Security. This is due to the State reform, tax shift and new objectives fixed for the healthcare budget.
(Source: Belga)
