Can Belgium still afford its model?

To what extent have we been living above our means and what would a fair correction look like?

Ageing, rising healthcare costs, security spending, the energy transition and European fiscal rules are colliding. The question is no longer simply what to fund, but how to stay solvent while keeping the country together.

TheMerode welcomes Vincent Van Peteghem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Budget, for an in-depth conversation designed to go beyond the headlines and into the decisions that will shape Belgium’s economic model for the next decade.

How can Belgium protect social cohesion without drifting into structural deficits? Which reforms are unavoidable? Where does a wealthy country still have room to manoeuvre, and where does it not? And ultimately: what budget for what model of society?