Outgoing Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld), took responsibility in the House on Thursday for his party's refusal to approve Belgium's healthcare budget for next year.
De Croo said this was a matter for the coalition currently being formed, even though two of the five parties concerned saw it as part of the outgoing government's current affairs responsibilities.
On Monday, the General Council of the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI) failed to reach a decision on its 2025 budget, which had been negotiated by health insurance companies and healthcare providers.
Patients, care givers held hostage
Within the government, the Open Vld refused to approve the budget, while the Mouvement Reformateur (MR) abstained.
Natalie Eggermont (Parti du travail de belgique, PTB) complained that the budget impasse was "a slap in the face of care providers."
"You are taking patients, caregivers and hospitals hostage," said Caroline Désir (Parti Socialiste, PS).
Sarah Schlitz (Ecolo-Groen) pointed a finger at "the right's strategy of bypassing social consultation."
The tone mounts within the future coalition
The PS and Ecolo-Groen should soon be sitting in opposition, but within the likely future coalition, the tone was also one of exasperation.
"Is there an agreement ready? Yes. Is a budget ready? Yes. The government is taking care of current affairs, and it is its responsibility to ensure stability and continuity," Jan Bertels (Vooruit) pointed out.
Jean-François Gatelier (Les Engagés) added: "This is an emergency, and we call on you to bring the government together quickly."
Prime Minister invokes 2019 precedent
The situation is not unprecedented, the Prime Minister assured, noting that it had already occurred in 2019, when the government of the Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès was in current affairs, and by November that year the situation had been resolved.
"I want to reassure patients and carers," he said. "There will be an INAMI budget and people's treatments will be reimbursed."
"There is no need today for a government in current affairs to take a decision," he added.
The head of the outgoing government said he wanted to give the five prospective coalition parties and the formateur enough room to negotiate.
Opposition scepticism
"The INAMI budget is part of an overall budget that the five parties are negotiating, which is their biggest challenge," De Croo explained, adding that he did not want to “complicate the task of the formateur.”
In his view, the fact that an agreement has been reached between the healthcare actors cannot justify ignoring the political discussions underway.
The leeway that the Prime Minister wants to leave the negotiators of the future government has not convinced the opposition as the end of the year approaches and deadlines become ever more pressing.
‘There is at least one person who thinks there will be a [coalition] government in December," quipped François De Smet (DéFI).
No need to dramatise the impasse, Liberals say
Some parliamentarians have accused Open Vld of giving in to the pharmaceutical sector, which has been forced to make cuts in the draft budget. However, this claim was disputed by the Prime Minister.
“We are simply asking everyone to contribute to the effort, not just doctors and dentists,” Daniel Bacquelaine (MR) commented in a press release.
“The pharmaceutical industry must also contribute to the budgetary effort, in proportion to its overruns,” Bacquelaine added, “but neither should we exempt, for philosophical or purely political reasons, mutual insurance companies or medical health centres."
The French-speaking Liberals feel there is no need to dramatise the absence of an agreement. “This is a worrying situation, but one that can be resolved quickly if everyone pulls together,” Bacquelaine said.
