Stop fake news
On social media and in public debate, false claims are circulating about the MR and about what the governments are doing. Here are the facts.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR wants to cut healthcare and bankrupt our hospitals”
The healthcare budget will keep rising. The MR does, however, want to make better use of the resources available in order to improve the quality of care for patients: effective prevention policies, more accessible healthcare and specialised hospitals for cutting-edge medicine. Reforming and rethinking a sector is often more effective than simply pouring more money into it.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR does not support teachers, their appointment or their pension”
That is false. It is precisely because the MR respects teachers and wants to value their essential role that it proposes giving future teachers a permanent contract, which will give them stability in the profession much sooner. A supplementary pension scheme will be introduced. All appointed teachers will remain appointed.
FAKE NEWS
“Workers never saw the ‘500 euros more net per month’”
The MR will keep its promise to create a gap of €500 net per month between income from social benefits and income from work. This will be achieved through the tax reform, which will raise all net wages from 2026, and through various measures capping social benefits or limiting them in time. In the end, that gap will indeed reach €500 net.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR holds the Interior Ministry and yet the shootings in Brussels keep coming”
These shootings were already frequent before the new government took office. The Interior Minister is working actively to reorganise the police forces, notably through the merger of the Brussels police zones, which will allow better use of the resources available. The MR is also calling for the army to support the police in sensitive areas. The Minister recently announced a comprehensive plan for security in our major cities.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR wants to abolish all public services”
That is false. No public service is at risk of disappearing. Belgians currently pay a great deal of tax for services that are not always up to standard. It is therefore only logical to reorganise in order to spend less and spend better.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR only defends the rich, not the middle class”
That is completely false. Every tax measure backed by the MR is designed to support the middle class, with one principle in mind: work more to earn more. Lower registration duties to help young people buy their first home, tax cuts to raise wages, a higher tax deduction for dependent children and tax-free overtime.
FAKE NEWS
“Because of the MR, night workers will lose €500 a month”
That is false. 100% of employees who work at night will keep 100% of their night-shift bonus under the same conditions. The only change concerns new hires, and only in the e-commerce sector, because these jobs are no longer being created in Belgium but just across the border, as the rules for this sector are too strict. The aim here is to create jobs.
FAKE NEWS
“With the MR, getting healthcare costs more”
That is false. The MR is in favour of accessible healthcare but also wants to fight waste. This means, among other things, encouraging doctors to prescribe less when it is not necessary. It also means tackling abuse by ensuring that financial support goes to those who genuinely need it.
FAKE NEWS
“Because of the MR, house prices have risen by nearly 20%”
That is false. Thanks to the MR, buying a first home is now far easier for young people following the cut in registration duties in Wallonia. These figures can fluctuate and go up or down depending on market demand (as with any asset). And let us acknowledge that a higher price also means the property is worth more and is therefore easier to resell (or rent out).
FAKE NEWS
“The MR finds money for Defence but nothing for pensions, healthcare…”
That is false. Increasing defence spending is essential if we are to meet our international commitments within NATO. At the same time, spending on healthcare and pensions continues to rise. Over the next ten years we will have spent 120 billion on Defence, but more than 1,200 billion on social policy. In every area, the MR wants to make sure the money is well spent and that people receive a quality service.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR has backed Israel from the start”
That is false. The MR has always supported the two-state solution. But recognition can only come once the hostages have been released and Hamas has been removed from power. There is no question of rewarding terrorism.
FAKE NEWS
“Delaying indexation would cost civil servants €175 a month”
That is false. The automatic indexation of wages and benefits is maintained for everyone.
FAKE NEWS
“The government is going to strip people in training of their unemployment benefits”
False. Jobseekers who started training for a shortage occupation before 1 January 2026 keep their entitlement to benefits for the duration of that training. From 1 January 2026, this option will be limited to training leading to shortage occupations in healthcare, such as nurse or care assistant.
FAKE NEWS
“With the pension malus, you will lose a quarter of your pension if you stop working before 67”
That is false. The reform does not change the statutory retirement age (67 from 2030) and, crucially, it does not change the length of a full career (42 years). It therefore protects those who have genuinely worked. Our line is clear: work must pay. From 2027, early retirement will be possible at 60 for anyone with 42 years of career including at least 234 days actually worked per year. Also from 2027, employees will even be able to retire from the age of 63 with no malus, provided they have at least 35 years of half-time work and 7,020 working days.
FAKE NEWS
“Police officers, firefighters and teachers will have to work until 67”
That is false. Firefighters and operational police staff keep a preferential enhancement coefficient which speeds up access to early retirement and will allow them to retire a year earlier. In education, an enhancement coefficient is also maintained: certain periods of service are counted at more than a standard year, making it possible to meet retirement conditions sooner. What is more, to ease the end of career of “senior” teachers, their classroom teaching hours will be reduced in favour of mentoring and coaching younger colleagues.
FAKE NEWS
“The unemployment reform simply shifts the problem onto the CPAS”
Limiting unemployment benefits to two years goes hand in hand with greater responsibility, an intensive integration policy and strong incentives to return to work, so as to avoid people being shifted onto the CPAS, whose financial and human resources will be strengthened.
FAKE NEWS
“There is still no government in Brussels even though the MR is the largest party”
The MR is not the cause of this deadlock, which stems above all from the PS's lack of willingness to find a solution. The MR is eager to get to work in the interests of the people of Brussels.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR does not support artists and culture”
The MR has ensured that the artist's status is maintained, even though we want to reform it to tackle abuse, and supports the arts and culture, with the aim of making the sector less dependent on public money and more open to private funding.
FAKE NEWS
“Unemployment in Wallonia has risen since the new MR-Les Engagés government took office”
The figures show that the unemployment rate in Wallonia has risen very slightly, but this is explained by a new counting method introduced by the former socialist minister Christie Morreale. Jobseekers who register voluntarily are now counted indefinitely, which has caused a sharp statistical rise in the number of unemployed recorded. Without this change of method, unemployment would have stayed at the same level. It should also be noted that the employment rate rose over the same period and will continue to rise in the years ahead, notably thanks to limiting unemployment benefits in time. Finally, a government's record is judged at the end of the legislature. It is far too early to draw conclusions while the new measures are only gradually coming into force.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR is going to scrap the cold weather plan and abandon homeless people”
That is completely false. The €65,000 grant per city awarded to Liège and Charleroi for the “Grand froid” cold weather plan is currently paid by the federal state, even though this competence was transferred to the Regions in 2011 under the sixth state reform (passed under a… socialist Prime Minister). Since then, the federal state has continued to carry this cost. Wallonia will therefore take its responsibilities and take over this funding. In practice, nothing changes: the “Grand froid” plan will be maintained, on the same terms.
FAKE NEWS
“The MR is making vocational education disappear”
The MR is strengthening vocational education through a better allocation of resources, in order to boost cooperation between schools and make sure that the options on offer lead to jobs. The aim is to turn vocational education into a pathway of excellence. Moreover, we have only reduced provision where it overlapped with similar pathways within the same area, in favour of other training bodies (IFAPME, adult education, etc.).