It all started with a TV show. On September 25, on the set of “It’s not every day on Sunday” on RTL-TVI, in Belgium, a secretary of state, Mathieu Michel, is questioned about his salary. And he stammers a little:A minister earns between 14,000 and 15,000 euros, something like that.“Question from the reporter:”And how much net do you have left, to be clear?” Answer : “It’s the net!“
A net at 15,000 euros, enough to make viewers jump on their sofa! Even if this sum includes benefits in kind – such as the company car – the Secretary of State for Digitalization, in charge of Administrative Simplification, Protection of Privacy and Buildings Management overestimated his salary. In reality, in Belgium, the salary of a minister is around 11,000 net. More than in France where a minister receives between 8,000 and 9,000 net.
Reduce the salaries of ministers? It’s Mathieu Michel’s fault… https://t.co/qffPsLfTWV pic.twitter.com/EXn6Cu6omT
— The Evening (@lesoir) October 7, 2022
Mathieu Michel’s false step sets fire to the powder. It gives the image of an overpaid political class, disconnected from reality, while Belgians are facing a dizzying rise in the cost of living: inflation is almost 11%. According to a recent survey, more than six out of ten Belgians are afraid of not being able to pay their electricity bills this winter. So, to bring down the controversy, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo offers his ministers to lower their salaries by 8%.
Given the electrical social context, the question is not really debated. Especially since 8% is not much: remember the 30% reduction imposed by François Hollande in 2012.
Federal budget: Alexander De Croo proposes a reduction in the salaries of ministers https://t.co/UwdQAx9bKn – editor/source: Belga， edited by Kevin D.
— Infopol monitoring (@PolBegov) October 6, 2022
It’s so little that it will save “only” 456,000 euros per year of public money. Symbolic sum compared to the state budget and the some 4 billion euros in savings that the Belgian government is trying to make at the moment. So more needs to be done. It has become the great fair of ideas: everyone goes there with their verse on the necessary exemplarity of political leaders.
The deputies say they are ready to apply this reduction too. The Liberals demand that all levels participate in the war effort. They take the opportunity to remind that Belgium has too many parliaments, too many regional governments…
“There are 55 ministers in Belgium… 4,500 employees in ministerial cabinets, points out the deputy Michel de Maegdt on the set of RTL-TVI. An extraordinary number of intermunicipal companies, 14 intermunicipal companies in Wallonia to take care of the sole distribution of gas and electricity. Senior civil servants earn more than the prime minister. We must go much further to reduce the weight of the State in public finances.“Belgium does indeed have a superposition of institutions: a government and a federal parliament, but also five governments and as many parliaments in the regions. Which may seem like a lot for a country of less than 12 million inhabitants.
This debate succeeded in diverting the attention of public opinion, but it will not last. Belgian trade unions are calling for a general strike on November 9 to defend purchasing power.