Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Belgium has once again requested an extension from the European Commission to submit its draft budget program for 2025.
As reported by De Tijd, Peter Moors, the new permanent representative of Belgium to the European Union, dispatched another note on 26 December to the European Commission aiming for a further extension. The letter does not identify a new formal date, but voices hope to design the medium-term Belgian budget strategy. It indicates that Belgium could soon present a schedule based on a firm political commitment from the new Federal Government.
Belgium, like other member states, is expected to present its budget plan to the European Commission by September 20. The budget plan will aim to lower the public deficit to below the 3% threshold that the EU applies for its member states by 2027. However, the country’s deficit is projected to increase to 4.7% by 2025, which challenges compliance with EU regulations.
How does Belgium’s political crisis affect its 2025 budget?
The request comes amid ongoing political negotiations within Belgium to form a new government. Government formation discussions have carried on for nearly seven months after elections on 9 June indicated that an agreement between the ‘Arizona’ coalition formed of N-VA, Les Engagés, Mouvement Réformateur, CD&V, and Vooruit would be fairly easy to achieve.
Belgium’s political environment is highly fragmented, with multiple parties representing diverse regional interests. There is now hope that the groups might assemble a government by the end of January, but the collapse to get an understanding or a budget over the line by the New Year has drawn criticism. Beginning in 2025 without a budgetary program, Belgium is now working on a system of “provisional twelfths”: every month, the management may only disburse one-twelfth of its total cost in 2024, permitting it to still fulfill key costs, such as salaries or paying invoices.
