Prime Minister gives “State of the Union”
It was Mr Michel’s second “State of the Union” since becoming Prime Minister in October of last year. During his speech, the Prime Minister praised the many measures his government has taken “to get the economy back on the rails, get the budget on track and to defend the social welfare system.”
On the right path
"The Belgian economy is on the right path, the path of sustainable growth. The economic indicators are good, but they are not yet structural enough”, Mr Michel said.
The Prime Minister summed up a host of measures in various policy areas. He praised the measures contained in the tax shift that was agreed up on at the weekend.
This met with applause from the coalition benches and booing from the opposition, when Mr Michel said that the tax shift is being finance by new capital gains taxes.
“Never before has a government made so much use of taxation on capital to enable it to reduce taxation on labour.” In what he described as a historic step, the Prime Minister said that the wage handicap “that has cost so many jobs over the past few years” will be reduced".
“Soon the wage handicap with neighbouring countries will be nothing more than a bad memory from the past”.
Solid and united
Mr Michel went on to say that "In just a year we have pushed through numerous economic and social reforms. We didn’t choose an easy path. But we want to make progress together with the social partners and meet the challenges we face.”
"We are heading in the right direction. We should restore hope and confidence”. Mr Michel added that the there is room for improvement to the way in which the Federal Government communicates with the public.
However, "The initial results can already be seen". "We are optimistic, but also realistic.
"We have a solid and united majority and we will continue to be so”, the Prime Minister concluded.