I retired from active Belgian party politics in December 2024. Even when I held a party political mandate, I had always projected my Left leaning position while allowing space for consensus.
Now retired, I speak not to score points but to offer a sober reflection on a troubling turn in our social policy debates. This is the proposed limitation of unemployment benefits over time. Having devoted the last six years of my political career exclusively to social affairs, I have seen firsthand how timely, targeted social protection lifts people out of generational poverty, especially children. That experience leaves me no choice but to raise my voice today.
The current discussions, both in the federal and Flemish coalition agreements, risk shifting our focus from fighting poverty to fighting the poor. That is not only morally untenable, it is also economically short-sighted and socially destabilising.
A civilised system under siege
The Belgian welfare model, imperfect as it may be, has long been a benchmark for human dignity, solidarity, and resilience. It is a system that doesn’t just distribute wealth; it prevents despair. Yet, at this critical juncture, we are flirting with policies that weaken, rather than strengthen, our safety nets. Limiting unemployment benefits over time, regardless of structural labour market challenges, risks punishing the very people we should be protecting.
Groups such as the Network Against Poverty have rightly raised the alarm in the Flemish Parliament. This is not mere political opposition. It is evidence-based advocacy from those who work daily with the most vulnerable. When even low middle-class families risk falling into poverty, despite one partner working, we are not confronting individual failure. We are confronting systemic fragility.
A European and global lens
Belgium is not alone. Across Europe, we witness a disturbing tilt toward austerity disguised as efficiency. We are told it is about “activation,” “empowerment,” or “making work pay.” But too often, these are code words for reducing support and increasing pressure, regardless of context or consequence. We must ask: where is the line between incentivising work and institutionalising hardship?
From my dual vantage point as a Nigerian-Belgian, I find this debate especially painful. In much of Africa, including Nigeria, social safety nets are non-existent or skeletal at best. Poverty is not an abstraction. Poverty is a daily sentence of indignity. Millions struggle without the buffer of unemployment benefits, child allowances, or accessible healthcare. The result is a continent of unrealised potential, where the poor are left to fend for themselves in a cruel lottery of survival.
That Belgium, a country that has long embodied a different, more humane social contract, would now entertain dismantling elements of this civilised system is not just ironic. It is tragic.
A time for moral courage
We need a new political maturity. It is one that acknowledges that poverty is not a choice. It is often the outcome of policy choices. If we are serious about employment, then invest in quality jobs, accessible retraining, and inclusive childcare. We should not be about time-bound threats. If we are serious about activation, then activate hope, not anxiety.
My appeal is to Belgium’s political leaders, to the civil society that has kept our moral compass intact, and to the European project itself. Do not normalise policies that shift the burden from the top to the bottom. Let us instead invest in policies that lift everyone from the bottom up. Because when a society starts fighting its poor, it begins to lose its soul. But when it fights poverty with boldness and compassion, it renews its promise.
And that is a promise worth keeping.
The author, Collins Nweke is a Senior Consultant on international trade and economic diplomacy. A former Chairperson of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Europe, he was a three-term councillor at Ostend City Council, Belgium till December 2024. He writes from Brussels, Belgium.
