Criticism after Jan Jambon’s September statement, from opposition and government parties: “A lot of spectacle, little substance” | Inland

“What has the show of the past week actually delivered for the Flemish? Nothing”, responds Vooruit party leader Hannelore Goeman to Prime Minister Jan Jambon’s September statement. According to her, the measures taken by the Flemish government are grossly inadequate. “What I wonder is what the Flemish will immediately feel in their wallet from this package of measures,” says party leader Hannelore Goeman.

According to her, Flanders continues to “save on our children and families”. Goeman finds it incomprehensible that child benefit is not linked to the health index. “The Flemish government continues to cash in extra on the high bills that the Flemish pay, but refuses to let our families’ child benefit increase along with the higher bills. You can’t explain that to anyone, can you?”

While energy bills are rising sharply for many families, according to Vooruit, Flanders is doing too little to mitigate that bill. “That invoice has tripled and Flanders only decided to extend the 3 euro discount per month. Three euros!”, says Goeman.

CD&V minister Hilde Crevits was unable to attend the September statement herself due to her health problems, but in a short message on Facebook the CD&V leader does shed her light on the statement and on the crisis of recent days, a crisis in which her party played a key role. In his own words, Crevits wants to “put some things in perspective”. “We are experiencing exceptional times with various crises that follow each other. The bills are getting more expensive, there is a lot of uncertainty among all people. A strong agreement and a united implementation of that agreement are therefore crucial.

The CD&V minister then lists a whole series of measures that the government is taking to deal with the crisis, ranging from the expansion of social allowances in child benefits to 115 million extra for childcare and the expansion of the job bonus. “Could it have been more? For us yes, but what is before us is a good agreement and we therefore take our responsibility. In the midst of the difficulty lies the opportunity. That is my sincere conviction”, concludes Crevits.

Opposition party Groen dismisses the September statement of Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon as “a lot of spectacle and little substance”. “We’ve had a sad political show in recent days. That ultimately yielded little extra for the Flemish, except for a few days of false hope and more mistrust in politics,” says party leader Björn Rzoska.

He also regrets that the growth package will ultimately not increase with the lifespan. The Flemish government has agreed that the child benefit can increase by 2 percent per year, with which it only reverses a saving that was previously decided by the then CD&V minister Wouter Beke. “This means that from now on, rich Flanders will lag behind Brussels and Wallonia, which do increase support for families when life becomes more expensive,” Rzoska criticizes. “In addition, there are even more domains where citizens have to make do. A balanced budget is preferred over aid to the people.”

The Green party leader believes that the government is also doing too little for the climate and, for example, has not yet made a decision about Ventilus, which should land offshore wind energy over West Flanders. “The Jambon government’s head-in-the-sand policy on climate is troubling. We know that the impact of the climate crisis will continue to increase. The fact that it does not do the necessary to protect Flanders against this is a culpable omission.” According to Rzoska, the Flemish government is “worn out”. “While today’s challenges call for major agreements and reforms, the Flemings are getting rumblings in the margins.”

The past few days have been “anything but a nice example of how we want to govern Flanders”, but the Flemish government has prepared an “incredibly strong package for the benefit of our families and companies”. That is what Prime Minister Jan Jambon said in his September statement.

In his speech, the Prime Minister referred several times to the misadventures of the past week. “Before you stands a humble man,” he said, “because I realize that the process we went through as a government was not pretty.” “We have to learn lessons from that.” He called Monday’s showing “painful”, acknowledging that his “ego has taken dents”.

At the same time, Jambon is also “proud” of the “incredibly strong package benefiting our families and businesses,” he said. It concerns a package of 4 billion euros, plus 1 billion in loans and guarantees to support Flemish companies.

“Resolute policy is needed to guide citizens and businesses through the inflation and energy crisis. The fact that the Flemish government was only able to avoid a government crisis just now shows a lack of responsibility”, Vlaams Belang reacts to the agreement on the Flemish budget. The opposition party does not like the end result of the negotiations either. “Our families and singles who cannot count on social measures are left out in the cold,” says party chairman Chris Janssens.

“It is clear to everyone that this quarrel had absolutely nothing to do with the interests of the Flemish people, but only with purely party political interests,” Janssens responds. The attitude of CD&V in particular is unbelievable, it sounds. “That party is now frantically trying to profile itself as a family party, but it was precisely CD&V ministers who got rid of linking the Groeipakket to the pivotal index. Later on, they also reduced its fixed indexation to 1%,” it reads.

Janssens is pleased that measures are being taken for the companies, but families and singles are too much out in the cold for him. “Certainly middle-class people who cannot count on social corrections are the victims,” he says. He calls the fact that the child benefit is not indexed again “a blunt saving operation that cuts the purchasing power of our families”. The fact that the charges in the energy bill would be reduced once by 25 to 30 euros, is for Janssens a “little piece”.

Open VLD seems quite satisfied with the current package of measures that has been put on the table. “I am pleased that we can now finally announce measures that will help everyone through this crisis”, Open VLD chairman Egbert Lachaert told the VRT, “We help people who work on a low and middle wage. We give them extra net with the job bonus. We also provide budget for small self-employed people and to help them through this winter.”

Lachaert regrets the delay in the September statement and would have liked it to be a little less chaotic. “This was political cinema, no Fleming benefits from a political crisis”. Still, he says his party is also very happy with some “blue measures” included in the statement, such as more net pay for those who work and support for companies that need it.

Party chairman of PVDA Jos D’Haese thinks the September statement is below average: “The working class pays the bill for the plans of the Flemish government. Energy bills also hit hard for those who earn an average wage. But for them no allowance or bonus, only savings on child benefit.”

D’Haese is particularly strict on Twitter with the governing party N-VA: “This is how N-VA gets its way: Flanders saves on children, on education, on care, on cities and municipalities, on public services. With full support from Open VLD and CD&V, which eventually folds. We will support all opposition to the government pushing our society into the red.”