Proposition 53K2471

Projet de loi contenant le deuxième ajustement du Budget général des dépenses pour l'année budgétaire 2012.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP the Di Rupo government

Submission date

Oct. 29, 2012

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

budget national budget

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit LE PS | SP Open Vld

Voted to reject

∉ N-VA LDD VB

Abstained from voting

Groen Ecolo

Party dissidents ¶

• Peter Luykx (CD&V) voted to reject.

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Discussion ¶

Dec. 6, 2012 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I refer to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, dear colleagues, we are swimming in full surrealism.

Mr. Minister, you announced, last week, with a lot of delay, an agreement on the 2013 budget. A week later, we are now discussing the second budget adjustment for 2012. The copy that you present to us is already the third piece of the 2012 budget. It was so well prepared that you presented to us this week, in the Finance Committee, a third budget adjustment with significant last-minute amendments concerning, in particular, the recapitalization of Dexia.

All these successive fiscal adjustments do not even guarantee that we will ⁇ the European goal of limiting the public deficit to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP). Indeed, if recapitalization is envisaged in the spending component, as Eurostat suggested, the trajectory of return to balance will be more difficult. We are now talking about a possible GDP deficit of 3.6% instead of the 2.8% planned by your government.

Obviously, this copy of the 2012 budget was poorly prepared. The second adjustment you propose only partially responds to the errors, to the budgetary improperties contained in the previous copies.

Furthermore, if you had prepared this budget correctly, we would not be talking today about a budget change for 2012, but about the 2013 budget that everyone expects.

The saddest part of all this, Mr. Minister, is that after two budget adjustments, the economic situation in Belgium is still as bad. The Institute of National Accounts confirmed yesterday that growth is still at a dead point, namely 0.0%. There is no growth. Businesses are always in trouble. They further decreased their gross formation of fixed capital in the third quarter. They have also drawn from their stocks whose variation has contributed negatively to GDP growth.

Furthermore, it is noted that in November, there were still 970 companies that put the key under the door, almost 1,000 companies. The increase in bankruptcies continues to accelerate. Since the beginning of the year, 10,136 companies have had to submit their balance sheet. This represents an increase of more than 6% compared to last year. All these bankruptcies involve fewer jobs, too many jobs, since there are more than 21,000 people who have had to go to unemployment.

What has the government done to address this problem? Has a recovery plan been adopted? No to No! We can’t talk about a real recovery strategy. In 2013, you will not go further! Real measures aimed at boosting growth and boosting the economy are completely absent from both the 2012 budget and your 2012 budget adjustments and even, we will talk about, the 2013 budget!

Thro ⁇ the past year, your government has defended an austerity budget, proposing ineffective and penalizing measures for growth. In particular, it increased the tax pressure by removing the tax advantages in terms of energy savings, by heightening the tax on savings, by increasing the real estate prepaid, by extending the VAT regime to a whole series of sectors that were previously exempt from it. Bad news is accumulating and there is still no consistent relief strategy.

The government today celebrates its first birthday and one could have hoped, on December 6, that it looks a little more like St. Nicholas. The citizens have well understood that instead of St. Nicholas, your government rather embodies Father Fouettard. In this role, you are doing wonderful things. Now, and the FDF MPs say since January, only a smart budget that also provides for measures to boost the economy will allow Belgium to get out of the crisis and maintain employment. It is not by raising new taxes without providing relief measures, as you did in 2012, that we will dope our economy.

You are proposing 300 million in this budget, following a decision in July, and 300 million in the 2013 budget for measures that will have no effect and that will not make sense to the efforts demanded to the population.

300 million, what is it? That’s only one per thousand of the gross domestic product! These are just potatoes for the revival! This is actually ten times less effort than what the French government does in this area. Nevertheless, I assure you that Belgium needs as much, if not more, a relief strategy than France.

However, we could have believed this when the conclave came out last July. In the press, we could admire your beaten smiles and read the so-called significant advances in employment for young and elderly. You announce a revitalization strategy comprising 40 measures to sustainably boost the economy, support citizens’ purchasing power, strengthen business competitiveness, and create more quality jobs. Many hopes rested in particular in the bill satisfying the Employment Plan discussed last week and this week in the Social Affairs Committee. The measures proposed in this plan appear, at first glance, to go in the right direction: the increase of the social employment bonus, the reorientation of the reduction of target groups, the creation of enterprise integration stages for low-skilled young people, the filing of projects for risk workers. But again, when you look at these projects, it is totally disappointing. You are not going far enough! You simply define a framework for employment, an incomplete and vague framework, still requiring multiple execution stops. This blur, this lack of reactivity delays the implementation of your “measures” of relief and only reinforce the climate of uncertainty in which our companies and our workers evolve.

You also promise us to provide additional funds for Justice, security, recovering the home pension of the self-employed, strengthening the pre-count exemption for researchers. In the end, what about it, because there is nothing in the budget in this direction? We still ask ourselves the question.

It turns out that this budget adjustment is, once again, a set of unproductive measures. The resources available for employment, police, justice are ridiculous. They do not meet the real needs of the different departments at all.

With the measures proposed in this budget amendment, I am concerned that industrial production, overseas orders, retail sales and the number of new mortgages will not be encouraged – but on the contrary – and that they will contribute to worsening the economic situation in Belgium.

It is urgent, Mr. Minister, that you commit to developing a clearer long-term vision, the only one capable of developing economic activity and growth, because it is through this and only through this that we will be able to dope our companies and create new jobs in Belgium. Therefore, we will not support your budget amendments.