While the run-up to the September Declaration was full of excitement and fireworks, today’s debate in the Flemish Parliament is going without major surprises. The opposition has criticized the crisis of the past week and the content of the budget agreement reached, but the Jambon government seems to have closed its ranks and is not facing any problems for the time being.
The Flemish Parliament is today debating the postponed September statement by Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon. Unsurprisingly, the Jambon government was criticized for the events of the past week.
For example, Vlaams Belang party leader Chris Janssens accused the government of being “more concerned with party political interests than with the interests of our people”. “Last week we saw a lot of spectacle, but very little to get people out of this crisis,” Groen said. Vooruit party leader Hannelore Goeman talked about “a shameful game of bad theater from a government that is more concerned with itself than with the Flemish”.
Like a lion in a cage
Prime Minister Jambon admitted earlier this week that Monday’s embarrassment, when he had to go to parliament empty-handed, was “painful”, but that he subsequently fought “like a lion” for an agreement. Then like a “lion in a cage”, said Janssens with a reference to Willy Sommers’ song.
ALSO WATCH. Jambon succeeds in the September statement
The opposition criticized not only the form, but also the content of the budget agreement. According to them, the energy and purchasing power measures fall short. For example, Vlaams Belang spoke of “alms policy”. “The purchasing power effect of these measures will be just as great as the cohesion in the Flemish government”, says Janssens. The Flemish interventions do not go far enough for Groen and Vooruit either. Vooruit party leader Hannelore Goeman even talked about “peanuts”. “Too little, too late,” it sounded. The far-left PVDA went a step further, accusing the government of carrying out a new “austerity round”.
Governmental parties N-VA, CD&V and Open Vld countered this criticism and emphasized that they invest in a targeted manner, without losing sight of the budget. But while N-VA party leader Wilfried Vandaele fully defended the choice for budget orthodoxy, Groen party leader Björn Rzoska called the pride about the budget surplus in 2027 “misplaced”.
The opposition party accuses the government of not allowing the higher own income to flow back to society. “These are resources that do not actually belong to you, but which you in turn should allow much more flow to the cities and municipalities, to the schools, the youth sector, to all Flemish people who have to scratch at home to make ends meet. The money belongs to them,” said Rzoska.
New page
CD&V party leader Peter Van Rompuy came back to the bend that his party had to take about the indexation of the growth package, the former child benefit. According to Van Rompuy, his party “fought like a lion” but CD&V was isolated within the government and it was “not an option to plunge the government into a protracted crisis”. “We are turning the page and continuing to work in the interest of the Flemish. That is also what they expect from us”, says Van Rompuy.
But the opposition was not satisfied with that answer. For example, Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau accused CD&V that with “the circus of the past few days she has completely pushed confidence in politics below zero”. He sharply attacked the attitude of CD&V, but was immediately reproached by CD&V that Vooruit also does not have a straight line in the field of child benefit. “We have no lessons to learn from Vooruit about the growth package,” said CD&V MP Katrien Schryvers.
Jambon was also accused of not saying anything in his September statement about a number of sensitive files, such as the nitrogen file and Ventilus. As for the nitrogen dossier, Jambon said the objections filed in the public inquiry will be judged “on their merits”. “Where necessary, we will take the objections into account. But just because you file an objection doesn’t mean you’re right,” Jambon noted.
READ ALSO. INTEGRAL. Read Jan Jambon’s September statement here: “What I had to undergo on Monday was painful”
VTM NIEUWS speaks with Prime Minister Jambon after the most difficult week in his political career: “It was embarrassing to be there on Monday without a September statement”
OUR OPINION. “It is not because Jambon is not resentful that N-VA resigns. The war machine is ready.”
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