# EUR-Lex - 52012DC0314 - EN

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# 52012DC0314

**Recommendation for a COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION on Belgium’s 2012 national reform programme and delivering a Council opinion on Belgium’s stability programme for 2012-2015 /* COM/2012/0314 final */**

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Recommendation for a

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

on Belgium’s 2012 national reform
programme
and delivering a Council opinion on Belgium’s stability programme for 2012-2015

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Articles 121(2) and 148(4)
thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No
1466/97 of 7 July 1997 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary
positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies[1], and in particular Article 5(2)
thereof,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No
1176/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November on the
prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances[2], and in particular Article 6(1)
thereof,

Having regard to the recommendation of the
European Commission[3],

Having regard to the resolutions of the
European Parliament,[4]

Having regard to the conclusions of the
European Council,

Having regard to the opinion of the
Employment Committee,

After consulting the Economic and Financial
Committee,

Whereas:

(1)       On 26 March 2010, the
European Council agreed to the European Commission’s proposal to launch a new
strategy for jobs and growth, Europe 2020, based on enhanced coordination of
economic policies, which will focus on the key areas where action is needed to
boost Europe’s potential for sustainable growth and competitiveness.

(2)       On 13 July 2010, the
Council adopted a recommendation on the broad guidelines for the economic
policies of the Member States and the Union (2010 to 2014) and, on 21 October
2010, adopted a decision on guidelines for the employment policies of the
Member States[5],
which together form the ‘integrated guidelines’. Member States were invited to
take the integrated guidelines into account in their national economic and
employment policies.

(3)       On 12 July 2011, the
Council adopted a recommendation on Belgium’s national reform programme for 2011
and delivered its opinion on Belgium’s updated stability programme for 2011-2014.

(4)       On 23 November 2011, the
Commission adopted the second Annual Growth Survey, marking the start of the second
European Semester of ex-ante and integrated policy coordination, which is
anchored in the Europe 2020 strategy. On 14 February 2012, the Commission, on
the basis of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011, adopted the Alert Mechanism Report[6], in which it identified Belgium
as one of the Member States for which an in-depth review would be carried out.

(5)       On 2 March 2012, the
European Council endorsed the priorities for ensuring financial stability,
fiscal consolidation and action to foster growth. It underscored the need to
give priority to growth-friendly fiscal consolidation, to restore normal
lending conditions to the economy, to promote growth and competitiveness, to tackle
unemployment and the social consequences of the crisis, and to modernise public
administration.

(6)       On
2 March 2012, the European Council also invited the Member States participating
in the Euro Plus Pact to present their commitments in time for their inclusion
in their stability or convergence programmes and their national reform programmes.

(7)       On
30 April 2012, Belgium submitted its 2012 stability programme covering the
period 2012-2015 and its 2012 national reform programme. In order to take
account of their interlinkages, the two programmes have been assessed at the
same time. The Commission has also assessed in an in-depth review, under
Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011, whether Belgium is affected by
macroeconomic imbalances. The Commission concluded in its in-depth review[7] that Belgium is experiencing an external imbalance, although not
excessive.

(8)       Based
on the assessment of the 2012 stability programme pursuant to Council
Regulation (EC) No 1466/97, the Council is of the opinion that the
macroeconomic scenario underpinning the budgetary projections in the programme
is plausible for the years 2012 and 2013 and optimistic for the years 2014 and
2015 as it foresees GDP growth to be substantially higher than the latest
estimates of potential growth emerging from the Commission's 2012 spring
forecast. The objective of the budgetary strategy outlined in the programme is
to bring the deficit below 3% of GDP in 2012 (to 2.8% of GDP, down from 3.7% of
GDP in 2011) and to zero in 2015. The programme confirms the previous medium-term
budgetary objective (MTO) of a surplus of 0.5% of GDP in structural terms,
which adequately reflects the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact The
planned 2012 headline deficit complies with the deadline set by the Council for
the correction of the excessive deficit and the planned fiscal effort complies
with the EDP recommendation of a minimal average annual effort of 3⁄4% of GDP in
structural terms. The planned growth rate of government expenditure, taking
into account discretionary revenue measures, complies with the expenditure
benchmark of the Stability and Growth Pact in 2013 to 2015, but not in 2012. Based
on the (recalculated) structural budget balance[8], the
programme projects the structural balance to improve by 1.1 percentage point of
GDP in 2012 and by about 0.8% of GDP on average over the period 2013-2015. However,
there are risks stemming from the fact that the additional measures to be taken
from 2013 onwards are not yet specified and that the macroeconomic scenario
from 2014 onwards is too optimistic. The government debt, which at 98.0% of GDP
in 2011 is well above the 60% threshold, is planned by the programme to
stabilise and then to decline to 92.3% in 2015, which would imply sufficient
progress towards meeting the debt reduction benchmark of the Stability and
Growth Pact. Moreover, implicit liabilities stemming from the guarantees given
to the financial sector are particularly large. The
rules-based, multi-annual framework for general government, particularly with
regard to expenditure would benefit from enforcement mechanisms and/or
commitments from the regions and communities, as well as from the local level,
in order to meet their allocated deficit targets.

(9)       The
costs associated with ageing should be addressed and a structural decline in
the deficit should be achieved to reduce the high public debt. The new federal
government agreed in December 2011 on a reform of the Belgian old-age social
security system. An effective implementation and monitoring of the initiated
statutory reforms is now necessary, with a view to raising the effective
retirement age. Underpinning the reform of old-age social security by measures
that stimulate active ageing and longer working are crucial, while further
reforms, such as linking the statutory retirement age to life expectancy, would
also help to achieve this goal.

(10)     The Belgian financial
system still faces considerable challenges. Restructuring of the Belgian banks
is on-going, and state aid granted in 2008/2009 as a response to the financial
crisis has not yet been fully repaid. Moreover, given the high level of
guarantees, the risks of the banking and public sectors are interrelated.

(11)     The current account is gradually
deteriorating over time. The improvement of the services balance does not make
up for the deterioration in the trade balance for goods. Belgian exports of
goods have lost ground not only with respect to expanding world trade, but also
with respect to other euro area countries and the euro area on average pointing
to unfavourable domestic cost developments in unit labour costs compared to
Belgium's main trading partners (NL, FR, DE) and the euro area as a whole. Given
the existence of an automatic wage-indexation system, the efforts of the
government to limit real wage increases to no more than 0.3 % in the
period 2011-2012 may not have prevented nominal wage growth from exceeding that
in the neighbouring countries. Although productivity levels are high, its growth
is weak and also the costs of intermediary inputs, mainly energy, are high.
Retail gas and electricity prices have been frozen in order to limit inflation,
but no concrete measures have been taken with respect to reforming the wage-bargaining
and wage-indexation system itself. The R&D intensity of the private sector
has stagnated in recent years and shortage of skilled professionals,
particularly in sciences and engineering, could become a major barrier in terms
of further improving the innovation performance of the Belgian economy.

(12)     Some structural measures
have been taken to boost employment of younger and older workers and to bring
more of the unemployed into the work force. Belgium has engaged in a wide
reform of its unemployment-benefit system. However structural problems in the
labour market persist and more could be done to tackle them. Increasing the
lifelong-learning participation rate and pursuing the reforms in vocational
education and training (VET) are crucial to improving the effectiveness of
active labour market policies (ALMP), in particular for older workers and
disadvantaged groups, such as people with a migrant background. No significant
headway has been made on the reduction of the tax burden on labour. A new tax
credit for the lowest wages was introduced in June 2011 but it has not proved sufficient
to remedy the significant unemployment traps at the bottom of the pay scale. No
shift of the fiscal burden away from labour towards consumption and/or
eco-taxes has been undertaken.

(13)     Prices for many goods and
services are generally higher than in other Member States, reflecting weak
competitive pressures — especially in the retail sector and network industries
— and a weak supervisory framework. In the retail sector, barriers to entry and
operational restrictions remain high. In particular, competition-restricting
regulations still restrict opening hours, protect incumbents against new entry
and inhibit the spread of new business models and technologies. A common
competition problem in the network sectors in Belgium is the strong position of
the incumbent and the high entry barriers compared to other Member States,
meaning that former monopolists in these sectors can still charge higher prices
than a competitive market would allow. The Belgian Competition authority is
being reformed but it remains unclear whether the new authority will be
sufficiently independent and have adequate resources.

(14)     While Belgium is on track
to meet the target to increase the share of renewable energy in the economy,
progress towards reaching the 15 % reduction target for greenhouse gasses
(GHG) in the non-ETS[9]
sectors is forecast to be virtually non-existent. Belgium has not adopted
sufficient measures or policy initiatives in 2011 to address this situation.

(15)     Belgium has made a number
of commitments under the Euro Plus Pact. These commitments, and the
implementation of the commitments presented in 2011, relate to improving
competitiveness, raising the employment rate, boosting the sustainability of
public finances and strengthening financial stability. The Commission has
assessed the implementation of the Euro Plus Pact commitments. The results of
this assessment have been taken into account in the recommendations.

(16)     In the context of the
European Semester, the Commission has carried out a comprehensive analysis of Belgium’s
economic policy. It has assessed both the stability programme and national reform
programme and presented an in-depth review. It has taken into account not only
their relevance for sustainable fiscal and socio-economic policy in Belgium but
also their compliance with EU rules and guidance, given the need to reinforce
the overall economic governance of the European Union by providing EU-level
input to future national decisions. Its recommendations under the European
Semester are reflected in recommendations (1) to (7) below.

(17)     In the light of this
assessment, the Council has examined Belgium’s stability programme for 2012 and
its opinion[10]
is reflected in particular in recommendation (1) below.

(18)     In the light of the results
of the Commission’s in-depth review and this assessment, the Council has
examined Belgium’s national reform programme for 2012 and Belgium’s stability
programme. Its recommendations under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No 1176/2011
are reflected in particular in recommendations (1), (4), (5) and (6) below,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS that Belgium
should take action within the period 2012-2013 to:

1.           Implement the budget for
the year 2012 to make sure the excessive deficit is corrected by 2012. Additionally,
specify the measures necessary to ensure implementation of the budgetary
strategy for the year 2013 and beyond, thereby ensuring that the excessive
deficit is corrected in a durable manner and that sufficient progress is made
towards the medium-term budgetary objective (MTO), including meeting the
expenditure benchmark, and ensure progress towards compliance with the debt
reduction benchmark. Adjust the fiscal framework to ensure that the budgetary
targets are binding at federal and sub-federal levels, and increase
transparency of burden-sharing and accountability across layers of government.

2.           Continue to improve the
long-term sustainability of public finances by curbing age-related expenditure,
including health expenditure. In particular, implement the reform of
pre-retirement and pension schemes and introduce measures linking the statutory
retirement age with increases in life expectancy.

3.           Further increase capital
of the weakest banks to underpin the strength of the banking sector so that it
can play its normal role in lending to the economy.

4.           To boost job creation and
competitiveness, take steps to reform, in consultation with the social partners
and in accordance with national practice, the system of wage bargaining and
wage indexation. As a first step, ensure that wage growth better reflects
developments in labour productivity and competitiveness, by (i) ensuring the implementation
of ex-post correction mechanisms foreseen in the 'wage norm' and promoting
all-in agreements to improve cost-competitiveness and (ii) facilitating the use
of opt-out clauses from sectoral collective agreements to better align wage
growth and labour productivity developments at local level.

5.           Significantly shift taxes
from labour to less growth-distortive taxes including for example environmental
taxes. Pursue the initiated reform of the unemployment benefit system to reduce
disincentives to work and strengthen the focus of employment support and
activation policies on vulnerable groups, in particular people with a migrant
background. Take advantage of the planned further regionalisation of labour
market competencies to boost interregional labour mobility and to strengthen
the coherence between education, life-long learning, vocational training and
employment policies. Extend existing activation efforts to all age groups.

6.           Continue to strengthen
competition in the retail sector by lowering barriers to entry and reducing
operational restrictions. Introduce measures to strengthen competition in the
network industries (electricity and gas, telecom, postal services and
transport) by revising regulatory barriers and reinforcing the institutional arrangements
for effective enforcement of state aid rules.

7.           Take measures to correct
the lack of progress towards reaching the targets for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions from non-ETS activities, in particular by ensuring a significant
contribution to this goal from transport.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

[1]               OJ L 209, 02.08.1997, p. 1

[2]               OJ L 306, 23.11.2011, p. 25

[3]               COM(2012)314 final

[4]               P7_TA(2012)0048 and P7_TA(2012)0047

[5]               Council Decision 2012/238/EU of 26 April 2012

[6]               COM(2012) 68 final.

[7]               SWD(2012)150 final

[8]               Cyclically adjusted balance net of one-off and
temporary measures, recalculated by the Commission services on the basis of the information provided in the programme, using
the commonly agreed methodology.

[9]               In Belgium only 37.9 % of emissions come from
sectors included in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). Of the more important
non-ETS sectors, road transport (21.5 %) and energy use (38.9 %) are
the most important sources of GHG emissions in the country. .

[10]             Under Article 5(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No
1466/97.