After the 2024 elections, the time will have come for a “structural transformation” of Belgium, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon (N-VA) said on Monday during a speech in Kortrijk on the eve of Flanders Day.
A reform of the state is needed, in which all competences would go to the federated entities, except for issues that they agree to keep at the federal level, he said.
If Flanders really wants to face future challenges, Mr. Jambon said, full competences needed to be granted urgently to the federated entities. “In a year’s time, we must aim for nothing less than a structural transformation of this country,” he stressed.
The state reform he wants would go beyond “shifts at the margins” or “slight changes of direction.” In his view, communities and regions should have full competence in areas such as health care, labour and employment policy and everything to do with the economy.
The Flemish minister-president referred to Article 35 of the Belgian Constitution, which has never been implemented so far but which the Flemish nationalists want to see applied.
This article, enshrined in the Constitution under Jean-Luc Dehaene’s government in 1993, establishes that all matters not explicitly allocated to the federal authorities revert to the communities and regions.
