Belgium to implement significant changes in pension system overhaul;
✔ Mostly civil servants will feel the impact
✔ Pension bonus also affected, replaced with a less favourable scheme in June 2025
✔ Government projects saving €318 million annually through these reforms
Pensions over €5,000 will no longer be indexed
Credit: Canva
People earning a pension over €5,000 per month will no longer see it being indexed from July this year. This is one measure included in the promised pension reforms.
As well as wages, pensions in Belgium are automatically increased in line with the rise of living through its (unique) wage indexation system. Due to automatic wage indexation, people's pay and pensions increased by 15% between 2021 and 2023.
However, for some 65,000 who receive more than €5,030.33 gross per month, this amount will no longer increase every year, the so-called "programme act" drawn up by Pensions Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA), and reported on by De Tijd, showed. The measure will go into effect from 1 July this year.
Largely civil servants
During the government negotiations, the federal majority parties (N-VA, MR, Les Engagés, CD&V, Vooruit) agreed that the highest pensions would no longer be automatically adjusted to the rising cost of living in the coming years. Exactly who is affected by this has now been clarified.
Almost all of the people included in this group accrued at least part of their pension as a civil servant. Only 136 people have worked as employees their entire lives.
This is because it is much more difficult, if not impossible, for employees and the self-employed to accrue such a high pension. Meanwhile, a series of favourable regimes allow civil servants with a very high income – such as top civil servants, high-ranking magistrates or military personnel – to accrue this amount. But many of these favourable regimes are now being phased out by the De Wever government.
De Wever's government hopes to save €29 million per year by no longer automatically increasing the largest pensions. Next year that figure should already be almost €87 million, and by the end of the legislature in 2029 it will be as much as €318 million.
Protest against the planned pension reforms of the new Federal Government, 12 February 2025. Credit: Belga
Other new measures
The programme act also shows that the pension bonus, as it was introduced by the De Croo government, will disappear as early as 30 June.
The main purpose of this bonus is to encourage people who can retire early to continue working. This bonus not only applies to employees; self-employed people and civil servants can also claim it. Ultimately, this type of pension bonus will have existed for barely a year. Acquired rights will be retained.
It will be replaced with a less favourable scheme, and a pension "penalty" will be introduced. Under this measure, anyone who takes early retirement, but has not worked for 35 years, will lose their pension. The scrapping of De Croo's pension bonus should yield €30 million this year, and €167 million next year. In 2029, this amount will be €447 million.
Finally, the additional solidarity contribution on supplementary pensions accrued through an employer will be increased. Supplementary pensions above €150,000 will have to pay an additional contribution of 2% from 1 October.
The coalition partners are yet to approve these new laws, which means changes are still possible. However, there is already large-scale protest against the reform plans, including a national strike next Monday (31 March), which will result in the country grinding to a halt.
Pensions in the budget amount to around €60 billion per year. The new Federal Government hopes to cut spending by €2.5 billion by the end of the legislature.
