The Flemish government has been delaying for too long with support measures for the self-employed and SMEs. In addition to Unizo, this is also what Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau thinks. “We don’t really understand what people are waiting for. It seems as if the speech of (Prime Minister; ed.) Jan Jambon is more important,” it sounded in the studio of VTM Nieuws.
For the record: Vooruit is in the opposition at the Flemish level. “There are a lot of small self-employed people who let us know by e-mail that it no longer works,” says Rousseau. “However, Flanders has a lot of tools at its disposal to do something about it. There is a European fund from which the Flemish government can provide support to small and large companies, up to 2 and 50 million euros respectively.”
N-VA seems to want to pay particular attention to the budget. “That is also super important, but what good is a budget ‘in order’ if your entrepreneurs can no longer make ends meet and you have to save on child benefit?”, Rousseau judges. “A budget should serve to help people and not to have a nice sentence in your speech. No one is waiting for that.”
Discount of 400 euros
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) announced a discount of 400 euros per family for the months of November and December. However, the average annual bill can easily amount to 9,000 euros. Isn’t that a wipe for the bleeding? “Look at what has happened in the past: the automatic indexation ensures that wages will rise by about 10 percent. That is the largest increase in all of Europe and even the world,” said Rousseau. “In addition, we have also introduced VAT at 6 percent and the social rate. If it depends on us, those measures will also be extended after 1 January.”
“As far as the 400 euro discount is concerned: in this case, a decision had to be made quickly. It cannot be the intention that we calculate per person how much we give, because then we will have to leave for months for discussions.”
Price incentive
Finally, Rousseau is not in favor of an obligation from Europe to consume less energy. “You never know what will happen next, but figures show that we now use 10 to 20 percent less energy. So there is already a certain ‘price incentive’. The government can also take a look at itself. Should all street lights be left on at night? And for which saint do the shop windows remain lit at night?”
Also read: INTERVIEW. Big boss of Eneco about energy crisis: “Someone has to pay in the end” (+)
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss out on any of the stars.