Social media post
2027 Budget of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation: staying the course. The deficit will be brought down to €1.2 billion by 2029. To achieve this, savings must be made—that's not a dirty word.
RTBF will make at least €20 million more effort. Wallonie-Bruxelles International is closing delegations that served no purpose: Belgium already had an embassy there. €12 million in savings.
In the civil service, 1 in 5 departures will be replaced, excluding critical functions, for a leaner and more efficient administration. Indirect party funding is over. The MR included.
For this to last, a budgetary “golden rule” is being set with the Walloon Region. The fight against drugs becomes a priority for the whole Federation. In education, no additional savings.
We no longer live on credit
In 2026, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation was spending €4.7 million more than it earned. Every day. In 2027, it will be €3.5 million. The goal is clear: €1.2 billion deficit in 2029, not one euro more.
In a household, when you spend more than you earn, you don't order a new kitchen. You make choices. That's exactly what we're doing.
No question of kidding ourselves either. The Government deliberately adopted growth lower than the official forecasts. If the economy slows, we won't be caught off guard. We don't spend money we don't have.
Making savings is not a dirty word
We said it during the 2024 campaign. We're doing it. To reduce the deficit, savings must be made. Full stop.
There is no magic wand. Every euro returned somewhere has to be found elsewhere. These savings didn't fall from the sky.
For the 2027 budget, the MR went looking for them tooth and nail. Not from students, not from teachers, not from workers. In structures, duplications, privileges.
RTBF: at least €20 million more effort
RTBF represents around €350 million in public money per year. Nearly a million euros a day. Paid by you.
The MR has already secured a freeze on its funding: over €130 million in savings over the legislature. We're going further: at least €20 million more effort by 2029, written into the next management contract. If RTBF can do more, it will.
A public broadcaster must do its job: inform, educate, keep our culture alive. Not expand in every direction, nor compete with private media everywhere.
Families are tightening their belts. The self-employed are tightening their belts. Why should RTBF escape it?
Wallonie-Bruxelles International: closing down duplications
Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) represents nearly €90 million a year and 15 general delegations around the world. Alongside Belgian embassies. Alongside Wallonia's economic attachés.
Belgium already has an embassy in Hanoi, Madrid and Tunis. Did we really need to pay for a second representation alongside it? For the MR, the answer is no. So we're acting:
- Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont and the Minister-President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation will present in the coming weeks the strong choices regarding the delegations affected by the rationalisation measures;
- no diplomatic recruitment competitions until the end of the legislature;
- €12 million in savings by 2029 (€8 million for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, €4 million for the Walloon Region). More than 1/8th of Wallonie-Bruxelles International's budget.
Civil service: 1 in 5 departures replaced
In a company, when someone leaves, you first ask a question: is this position essential? From now on, the same applies in the administration of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, until 2029:
- critical functions (for example, educators in juvenile detention centres): 100% of departures replaced;
- other roles: 1 in 5 departures replaced.
We protect the front line. We lighten the back office. The same service, for less money.
Indirect party funding is over
Political parties were receiving public money indirectly: archive centres, lifelong education associations, youth organisations. We're putting a stop to it: nearly €3 million in savings from 2027.
All parties are affected. The MR included. You can't ask people for effort without starting with yourself.
Rules to make it last
A “golden rule” with the Walloon Region: a joint multi-year budgetary trajectory, in line with European rules, voted at the 2027 budget adjustment.
Every saving is monitored: a check-in at the 2027 adjustment and the 2028 budget. An announced saving must be a realised saving.
We are scrutinising spending in 2027 with an eye to efficiency: administrative buildings, art colleges, ONE (child welfare agency).
Drugs: the whole Wallonia-Brussels Federation is mobilising
Drugs and trafficking are eating away at our neighbourhoods, in Brussels and our major cities. Shootings, deals on street corners, young people recruited as lookouts. We're no longer looking away.
The Government is launching a drug prevention plan mobilising everything the Wallonia-Brussels Federation does: schools, youth, youth support, justice centres, sport, culture, prevention. The first actions will be set by the end of the year. Electronic monitoring is also being strengthened, with the Federal level, to help ease prison overcrowding.
No new savings in education
This budget does not touch education.
Better still: we're reinvesting where it counts, €14 million by 2029 for individual support for students in the 2nd and 3rd years of secondary school, €13 million in 2027 to adapt schools to heatwaves (trees, blinds).
This money doesn't come out of thin air. It exists because the MR cut elsewhere.
Conclusion
We promised to bring order to the accounts. Done.
We promised to cut in the structures rather than from people. Done.
We promised to start with politics itself. Done.
The MR doesn't make empty promises. It stays the course.