Proposition 54K3411

Projet de loi modifiant la loi du 21 février 2003 créant un service des créances alimentaires au sein du SPF Finances en ce qui concerne l'automatisation du titre exécutoire.

General information ¶

Submitted by

MR Swedish coalition

Submission date

Dec. 5, 2018

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

maintenance obligation public administration claim

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI ∉ Open Vld N-VA MR PVDA | PTB PP VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

Jan. 31, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I would like to give you a brief report and a speech. I am the only one who has spoken on this text. It was presented to us by the Minister of Finance. This is a very important text, as it organises a form of automation of the recovery of food claims, which are assimilated to tax debts and which will therefore be able to be automatically recovered, in the future, by the SPF Finance, and returned to debtors, who are most often debtors. This is a very positive measure to improve the functioning of the Food Claims Service for the benefit of children’s education.

I am the only one who has expressed myself on this text by expressing my support and by insisting – and I will repeat it here, Mr. Minister – on the means to be granted to this service of the SPF Finance and to this problem in general. Indeed, it is observed that a number of decentralized offices of the SECAL have been closed and that the number of SPF Finance officials working there has been reduced. The annual report provided by the law has not been published for a long time. For a very long time, the SECAL accompanying committee has not been renewed; it has been recently.

I hope that the vote on this text is the signal of a re-investment of the federal state in this important service. I think the principle of automated debt recovery is very positive. In the long run, we need to raise the ceilings. You have had this debate recently with our colleague of the PS, Mrs Winckel. I would like to note with interest your openness on this issue, Mr. Minister. It was also discussed this week in the committee. Two legislative proposals on the subject were introduced by the PS and the CDH.

The committee agreed to hear you in the coming weeks on the practical implications of raising or removing the ceilings. I hope that in the next ten weeks, with your support, we will be able to complete the text voted today. This would be very positive for the rights of women and children affected by maintenance claims.

Mr. President, Mr. Gilkinet has twice insisted that he had intervened alone. We did not do this because we had proposed the adoption of the text. The SECAL was created to mitigate this risk of poverty due to non-payment of food claims. In this case, it is an improvement for the recovery of fund advances. We look forward to this, of course. We support this project. There was no need to intervene on the subject in committee since we defended the project by submitting it.

It is obvious that my group will also support this project.

I would like to use the presence of Mr. Minister of Finance to echo the discussion we had in the committee yesterday afternoon. Indeed, I had the opportunity to defend, on behalf of the CDH, a bill to raise the ceilings giving access to the services of the SECAL.

The first increase of these ceilings took place in 2014 when they went from 1,400 euros to 1,800 euros. Our proposal aims to gradually raise this ceiling to 2,500 euros. I learned from yesterday’s discussion that this initiative arouses interest. Mrs Winckel’s intervention confirmed, if needed, the need to come to help these single-parent families. These are often women who are exposed to precariousness or even poverty when they do not receive the due maintenance pensions.

One in six children is a victim of precariousness. There is an imperative necessity.

We agreed in a committee to question you, Mr. Minister, to collect your opinion and that of the SECAL on this increase of the ceilings. What impact could this increase have in terms of the number of beneficiaries? I allow myself to insist on you so that we receive your opinions as soon as possible so that, quickly, we can return to this question and respond through this measure to this problem of precariousness and poverty affecting single-parent families. I would like to thank you for paying attention to the opinion that Mr. Chairman of the Finance Committee will not fail to pass on to you.

Mr. Minister, there have been only statements of support, but I give you the word.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to explain what this is about. This bill ensures that the executable titles can be automated. This is an important aspect, because in order to make DAVO financially stronger and to limit losses, of course, the recovery of funds is a very important element.

You are expressed this after-midi on the lifting of the thresholds. A study is in course and when you take measures, you must make sure that they really help. The fact of being able to put in place this modernization and this automation is an important condition for being able to take additional measures.