A lot of inconvenience expected on national day of action: “I call on not to add unrest to an unstable situation” | National Day of Action

De Lijn and STIB expect that their services will be disrupted. Train traffic would run normally, the NMBS is even introducing extra trains to Brussels and is calling on travelers to avoid rush hours due to the expected crowds. Many flights have been canceled at Brussels Airport and long waiting times are expected.

Unions are campaigning for “real wage increases” as inflation soars and more and more people struggle to pay their bills. The automatic wage indexation absorbs the biggest blows for employees, it sounds like, but it is not sufficient. Especially for people with a low or middle income, it continues to “scrape”, while Belgian companies are making historically high profits, according to the National Bank. “People always pretend that Belgium has an advantage over other countries. But if you look at it in the long term, we are lagging behind,” said the chief executive of the socialist union, Thierry Bodson. The cost of energy here is higher than elsewhere and fuel prices are not included in the index, says his colleague from the Christian union, Marie-Hélène Ska.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) understands the public’s concern, although a demonstration or strike like the one tomorrow is not a solution, according to him. “These are unprecedented times. We are coming out of a pandemic crisis, we have a war in Europe and energy prices that make life very hard for a lot of people.” According to the prime minister, a demonstration or strike “makes life difficult for everyone”. “I especially call on not to add unrest to a situation that is already very unstable,” said Prime Minister De Croo.

According to him, the government in our country has already done a lot to protect purchasing power. “We have asked experts to see how good the measures we have in our country are, and they came to remarkable conclusions,” it sounds. According to the experts, the broad social rate is a very good measure, and our country has the best protection of purchasing power in all of Europe, thanks to automatic wage indexation. “In our neighboring countries, people are currently only negotiating what compensation they would have. With us, the vast majority of the population has already received these compensations.”

The government also decided yesterday to extend the support measures, such as the reduced VAT rate on gas and electricity and the reduction in excise duties at the pump, until at least the end of the year. “Experts are now working further to see whether additional measures are needed,” explains De Croo. Within two weeks, those experts would come up with new proposals about possible temporary, targeted measures for those who are “disproportionately affected”, the prime minister concluded.