The government has reached an agreement on the initial budget for 2025, several cabinet ministers confirmed on Tuesday. Prime minister Bart De Wever and his top ministers will also try to reach a consensus on increasing the defence budget this week.
Drawing up Belgium’s budget was no walk in the park for the De Wever government. Compared to the trajectory proposed in the coalition agreement, the government had to find an additional 330 million euros, says Budget minister Vincent Van Peteghem.
But the government have managed to find an agreement this week. “Today we will immediately start to finalise the texts so that we can present this budget to parliament as soon as possible,” said Van Peteghem. According to the minister, a budget review will follow as early as July to monitor the impact of the measures.
If the measures will suffice to reach the EU’s target of a 3 per cent budget deficit, remains to be seen. Belgium’s deficit rose to 4.6 per cent last year, and in February, the National Bank of Belgium said that based on the government’s coalition agreement, reaching 3 per cent would be “far from obvious”.
Increased defence spending
Reaching the EU target will be further complicated by recent calls for increased defence spending. According to the coalition agreement, Belgium’s budget should rise to the NATO norm of 2 per cent of GDP by 2029 and 2.5 per cent by 2034. But recent actions by US president Donald Trump have made it clear that European countries need to accelerate their efforts.
That is why De Wever’s core cabinet of ministers will be working on increasing the defence budget in the coming days. The cabinet has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday evening to discuss how to meet the NATO target as soon as this year. This alone could cost Belgium an estimated 4 billion euros.
De Wever’s government will also discuss long-term goals for its legislature, which lasts until 2029. One possibility would be to raise the 2029 target further. Several NATO members have advocated raising the standard – with Trump even suggesting a target of 5 percent – which would mean that 2 percent would not suffice anymore.
