PS mayors are demanding more money for the major cities. Yet these are the very cities that already receive massive support from Wallonia and record the lowest employment rates in the country. The real question is not how much more Wallonia should give, but what results have been achieved after decades of socialist management.
Major cities have particular burdens. No one disputes that.
But it is false to claim that their financial difficulties are solely the result of a lack of regional support.
The major cities already benefit from significant specific funding mechanisms. They have received massive exceptional support in recent years. Yet they continue to record the lowest employment rates in Wallonia and concentrate the largest municipal deficits.
The real question is therefore not only one of refinancing.
The real question is what results have been achieved after several decades of socialist management.
The current difficulties did not emerge under the current governments
The main cities pushing this demand today are:
- Liège;
- Charleroi;
- Mons;
- La Louvière;
- Seraing;
- Verviers.
All these cities have been led for many years by socialist majorities.
The budgetary problems being denounced today therefore did not emerge under the current governments.
They are the result of financial, economic and social trajectories built up over several decades.
When certain cities have faced structural difficulties for more than ten or fifteen years, it is hard to argue that their situation is mainly linked to decisions made only a few months ago.
2. The real problem is economic: the major PS cities have the lowest employment rates in Wallonia
The first factor determining a municipality's financial health is the employment rate.
A municipality where more people work:
- receives more personal income tax surcharges;
- has a broader tax base;
- bears fewer social expenses;
- is less dependent on its CPAS;
- attracts more private investment.
The official IWEPS figures are particularly telling.
Employment rate 20-64 years (2023)
| Territory | Employment rate |
| Belgium | 72,1 % |
| Flanders
Wallonia |
76,8 %
65,5 % |
| Mouscron | 64,7 % |
| Namur | 64,1 % |
| Tournai | 63,5 % |
| Herstal | 60,3 % |
| La Louvière | 58,1 % |
| Verviers | 57,7 % |
| Seraing | 57,6 % |
| Liège | 56,8 % |
| Mons | 56,6 % |
| Charleroi | 53,6 % |
The cities demanding more resources today are precisely those with the weakest results.
The gap with the Belgian average is considerable:
These figures largely explain the observed budgetary difficulties.
Fewer jobs means:
- less personal income tax revenue;
- less wealth creation;
- more social spending;
- more pressure on the CPAS;
- more dependence on public support.
The fundamental question is therefore simple:
Why do these cities remain among the worst-performing in the country in terms of employment after decades of socialist management?
3.
3. The major cities already benefit from specific aid that other municipalities do not receive
PS mayors give the impression that the major cities are being abandoned by Wallonia.
The figures show exactly the opposite.
The major cities first benefit, like all Walloon municipalities, from the Municipal Fund, which represents more than €1.6 billion in 2025. This fund already takes into account numerous criteria favourable to central cities: population, deprivation, urban density, centrality functions and socio-economic characteristics.
But above all, the major cities also benefit from several specific mechanisms that other municipalities have little or no access to: the Major Cities Grant, the Integrated City Policy, the Oxygen Plan, CRAC interventions, FERI and various regional urban revitalisation schemes.
The question is therefore not whether the major cities are funded by the Region. They already are, extensively. The question is why, despite these specific mechanisms and despite decades of socialist management, they continue to record the lowest employment rates in Wallonia and the largest deficits.
A. Major Cities Grant
The nine major cities benefit from specific funding that other Walloon municipalities do not receive.
Annual amounts:
| City | Amount |
| Charleroi | €6.43 M |
| Liège | €5.28 M |
| Mons | €2.87 M |
| La Louvière | €2.75 M |
| Tournai | €2.68 M |
| Namur | €2.35 M |
| Seraing | €2.18 M |
| Mouscron | €2.01 M |
| Verviers | €1.84 M |
Total: €28.4 million per year
This funding does not exist for other Walloon municipalities.
B. Integrated City Policy
Before its integration into the Major Cities Grant, the Major Cities Policy still represented:
€13.4 million per year
reserved for major cities.
This was already a specific refinancing scheme aimed at addressing their urban and social difficulties.
C. Oxygen Plan
The Oxygen Plan is the most significant municipal financial support mechanism introduced in recent years.
The data from the UVCW study shows that the major cities are the main beneficiaries of the scheme.
The nine major cities account for approximately:
€1.55 billion
in potential drawing rights over the 2022-2026 period.
The total amount of the scheme is approximately:
€1.79 billion
In other words:
nearly 87% of the scheme concerns the major Walloon cities.
No other category of municipality receives comparable support.
D. Exceptional CRAC intervention
When certain major cities faced even greater difficulties, Wallonia intervened once again.
In 2024:
- Liège;
- Charleroi;
- Mons
received a specific CRAC intervention of €235 million
Very few Walloon municipalities have ever received exceptional support of this scale.
4. Other municipalities also face the same difficulties
The major cities are not alone in having to finance:
- the CPAS;
- the police zones;
- the emergency services zones;
- pensions;
- infrastructure;
- energy investments.
All Walloon municipalities face this.
Yet most of them are not demanding massive refinancing today.
Why?
Because they have been forced to:
- review their spending;
- reorganise their services;
- adapt their priorities;
- seek efficiency gains.
The major cities cannot be exempt from this effort.
5. Available studies show that the difficulties are structural
The UVCW study on the financial situation of the major Walloon cities confirms that the financial difficulties observed are long-standing.
It shows that the major cities have a structural current deficit over a long period.
More strikingly, they alone account for nearly 88% of the current municipal deficits observed among struggling Walloon municipalities.
This shows that the problem is deep-rooted and the result of decades of poor socialist management.
It cannot in any case be explained by Wallonia's recent budgetary decisions.
6. The real question: what have they done with all these resources?
This is the question that never comes up in media appearances.
As mentioned in point 3, the major cities already benefit from several funding sources.
But that is not all: in addition to being largely funded by the Region, the major cities are also among those exerting the highest tax pressure in Wallonia. For example, in 2025 the municipal surcharge on personal income tax was 8.8% in La Louvière, and 8.5% in Charleroi, Seraing and Verviers. These rates are well above the regional average of 7.9%.
Walloon citizens therefore have the right to ask:
What results have been achieved?
Has the employment rate risen sharply?
Have operating expenses decreased?
Have administrative structures been streamlined?
Have brownfield sites been redeveloped?
Has municipal property been enhanced in value?
Has dependence on regional aid decreased?
Has the financial situation improved sustainably?
7. The reforms the major cities should undertake
Before demanding more resources, the major cities should demonstrate the efforts they have already made.
This includes in particular:
A comprehensive review of spending
Every euro spent must be justified.
An evaluation of all subsidies
Subsidies must be assessed on the basis of measurable results.
A rationalisation of satellite structures
Municipal non-profits, agencies and peripheral bodies must be reviewed.
Better management of assets
Empty buildings, brownfield sites and underused assets must be put to good use.
A stronger fight against vacant housing
They represent both a tax loss and a loss of attractiveness.
An ambitious back-to-work strategy
No budgetary path can be sustainably restored with employment rates of 53%, 56% or 58%.
Financial recovery begins first with economic recovery.
8. Conclusion
The MR does not dispute the centrality burdens.
The MR does not dispute the structuring role of the major cities, quite the opposite.
But it rejects the narrative that their difficulties are solely due to a lack of regional resources.
The facts are as follows:
- the major cities already benefit from the Municipal Fund, supplemented by several specific and exceptional funding mechanisms;
- they have captured the bulk of the Oxygen Plan;
- they have received exceptional CRAC interventions;
- yet they have the lowest employment rates in Wallonia;
- several of them have been led by the PS for decades;
- they concentrate a disproportionate share of municipal deficits.
Regional solidarity must continue to play its role.
But it must be accompanied by a requirement for responsibility, reform and results.
The question is not only how much more Wallonia should give.
The real question is what reforms certain PS-led major cities are finally willing to implement in order to durably escape this situation.