Future federal governments will be required to adopt a plan to combat poverty and inequality within 12 months of their swearing-in, under a bill approved on Friday in the Council of Ministers, Karine Lalieux, minister in charge of the fight against poverty, announced in a press release.
After its adoption by the federal government, the plan will have to be presented to Parliament and to an interministerial conference.
It will contain the definition of measures to be taken by each minister and secretary of state, and will have to take into account the impact of each measure on gender and disability.
Preliminary consultation with the federated entities in the Ministerial Conference, as well as with the network of civil servants fighting against poverty and the Belgian Platform for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, will be compulsory, the aim being to develop synergies.
“This is historic. Until now, the adoption of a plan to fight poverty was left to the goodwill of the majority parties,” the minister is quoted as saying in the statement. “From now on, we are changing the paradigm, it is becoming an obligation.
"Every five years, our country will have to adopt a new strategy in this area, with the involvement of all the ministers in the executive," she explained. "Faced with the scourge that precariousness still represents in our country, this long-term vision is essential.
