The Belgian meat industry has criticised a proposal by Employment minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) to tighten labour migration rules, warning it could jeopardise food security.
The plan would make it harder to recruit butchers from outside the EU by requiring companies to search for suitable candidates in Belgium or the EU for nine weeks before recruiting from third countries.
Consumers will ultimately pay the price for a policy that favours bureaucracy over continuity
Febev, the association representing slaughterhouses and meat wholesalers, argues that butchers are essential to the production chain and that restricting their recruitment will affect the entire supply system. “Consumers will ultimately pay the price for a policy that favours bureaucracy over continuity,” it warned.
Persistent labour shortages
The association also said the minister’s approach showed little understanding of the sector’s labour shortage. With too few qualified graduates and available candidates, many companies have stopped advertising vacancies through the National Employment Service due to the lack of response.
Febev points to the existing Fair Competition Plan, introduced in 2023 to promote direct and sustainable employment and combat social fraud, as evidence that the sector is already addressing the concerns raised by the minister. The organisation is calling for urgent dialogue and a better alignment of government objectives with economic realities.
