Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
Find the full transcript below:
In the heart of the European capital, Brussels, one hundred thousand protesters rallied in the streets in March to push back against the Belgian government’s austerity plan.
In yesterday’s episode, we looked at how effective the new anti-poverty strategy of the EU could be. I wanted to link this episode with another topic I’ve been willing to cover for a long time: the growing austerity measures in European countries.
We are seeing more and more reforms in EU member states, like in Belgium, that directly cut public spending and therefore reduce social benefits for people.
So in Belgium and across Europe, is austerity actually making a comeback? And at what cost?
When he became prime minister of Belgium in February 2025, Flemish nationalist and right-wing politician Bart De Wever promised to fix the country’s finances.
He announced that he would bring the national deficit down to under three percent of GDP by cutting public spending. This would be the “toughest budgetary cleanup in the country’s modern history,” he said.
So what are his plans?
The government wants to reduce social spending by €5.4bn. The cuts will affect pensions on the one hand, and healthcare and unemployment benefits on the other.
Concretely, Belgium’s unemployment benefits will now be capped at two years, and the legal retirement age will rise from 66 to 67 by 2030.
In his book Prosperity, the Belgian PM heralds the end of the welfare state and presents the authoritarian state of Singapore as an economic model focused on creating wealth through innovation and technology, with policies centred on supply-side economics and a move away from wealth redistribution.
So, while asking average Belgians to tighten their belts, the government has also implemented other controversial ultraliberal measures.
For example, it introduced a capped social security contribution for employers of the country’s highest-paid employees, all in the name of competitiveness.
But according to the Belgian daily Le Soir, one third of the people concerned by the measure are athletes, mostly football players.
This measure will deprive the social security system of €75m.
Needless to say, the Belgian government has faced backlash from day one.
Workers’ unions warn that thousands of Belgians could fall into poverty.
What’s more, the government’s ability to meet its targets has also been called into question.
According to the independent organisation Bureau du Plan, the country’s deficit is still expected to rise over the coming years and reach 6.3 percent of GDP by 2031.
Is this austerity fever only affecting Belgium?
No.
And the main reason is the need for EU countries to keep their deficits below three percent of GDP under the Stability and Growth Pact.
After suspending the pact during and after the Covid crisis, the European Commission launched excessive deficit procedures against eight EU member states in 2024: Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Malta.
That means these countries need to implement reforms that lead to cuts in public services and social benefits.
In Germany, a country less known for its debt levels, the government has just announced a social security reform that could save €16 billion in healthcare spending. A pension reform is also in the pipeline.
In Romania, this austerity drive, led by the prime minister since 2024 to reduce the public deficit, even led to the fall of the government.
A 2025 report by the European Public Service Union (EPSU) warned that Europe was, in its words, “repeating past mistakes” from the aftermath of the 2008 euro crisis.
According to EPSU and other organisations, the dogma of reducing deficits to a specific number does not make sense.
Even the International Monetary Fund believes that strategic investment in public services can help reduce debt in the long term.
For example, effective preventive healthcare policies can reduce the incidence of disease, just as strong education systems and social support can lower crime rates. In both cases, this ultimately reduces public spending.
On the contrary, austerity-driven policies risk worsening an already perceived decline in public services. A 2025 study found that in France, three out of four people believed that public services had deteriorated over the previous five years.
In 2024, another study pointed to declining satisfaction with public services over the previous 12 years in Ireland, Germany, and Luxembourg.
And when public sectors are under strain, crises are never far away.
