# What does the September Declaration mean specifically for you? An overview of the promised measures
***What has the Flemish government decided to tackle the energy and purchasing power crisis? A few days later than anticipated, Flemish prime minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) has finally presented his September Declaration. What does that mean for your wallet? An overview of the promised interventions.***
The Flemish government is promising EUR 4 billion in both one-off and annual measures until 2027. “On top of that, we foresee another billion in loans and guarantees to support our Flemish companies,” Jambon said. “Despite this considerable effort, we manage to draw up a multiannual budget that will be rebalanced possibly as early as 2026, but certainly by 2027.”
Below is an overview of the promised measures. We will add to this article as more details become clear.
## Growth Package
The Growth Package was the divisive issue during the budget negotiations and immediately the reason why the September statement had to be postponed. The link to the pivot index will not happen. These measures do:
– The basic amount of child benefits will be re-indexed at 2 per cent instead of 1 per cent.
– The target group of social benefits on top of child benefits will be expanded from 30,000 to 80,000 children. There will also be an additional allowance of 100 euros on top of the social allowance this year and next year.
– From next year, the social allowance for those already receiving it will be increased by 180 euros.
## Energy
More and more families and companies are having the greatest difficulty in getting their energy bills paid. The Flemish government always referred to the September declaration for possible measures to this end. It has become this:
– From 1 November to the end of April, there will be a ban on disconnections. At the same time, 40 million euros will be provided to guarantee vulnerable families a minimum supply of natural gas and electricity.
– Families will be guided to a better-maintained heating system, as this would lead to lower bills. There will also be additional funds for PCSWs and CAWs to provide energy advice.
– The Flemish energy tax will disappear from electricity bills for singles and families. Annually, this would barely save a family just 6 euros a year.
– There will be tens of millions of euros of support for local governments to pay their energy bills and 200 million euros to keep the energy bills of schools, care institutions and other public institutions affordable.
– Flemish government itself will use 15 per cent less gas and electricity: that means lower temperatures in buildings, more economical use of hot water and dimming mood lighting.
– At the same time, there will be additional solar panels on public buildings and more investments in heat networks and green heat.
## Welfare
There has been a lot going on around childcare in recent months. Following a fatal incident at a crèche, a commission of enquiry was set up and it came up with a stinging final report for the Agency for Growing Up a few months back.
– The government promises to address the problems with an additional investment of 115 million euros per year in childcare. That money should go towards quality improvement and better support for child care workers. And at the same time for strengthening the care inspectorate and the Agency for Growing Up.
– Via the care budgets, the allowance for people with a high need for care and residents of residential care centres who are not well-off will also be increased.
## Education
Things are not going well in education either: there is a huge teacher shortage and, at the same time, quality is visibly declining. Besides the promised money to dampen schools’ energy bills, some additional resources for education have therefore been promised.
– Thus, the government promises to further structurally increase the education budget.
– There will be an extra 25 million euros a year for pupil transport in special education. Plus another 10 million euros for bus escorts.
## Housing
Housing is becoming increasingly expensive. Especially those who live in energy-guzzling rented housing will face even more financial problems due to a possible indexation of rents. The government therefore proposes the following temporary measures:
– The indexation of rents will be limited. This mainly concerns very poorly insulated rental properties. Anyone renting a house with energy label E or F (the worst energy scores) will not be allowed to index the rent for a year.
– From a rental house with energy label D, indexation is limited to 50 per cent. From energy label C onwards, the landlord is allowed to fully index the rent.
– The Flemish Housing Fund will be reinforced by 250 million euros to provide more social housing loans.
## Work
Low-wage workers get a perk on top of their pay via the job bonus. From January onwards, wages go up for many people due to indexation, which is why the salary cap will be raised from next year.
– Those earning 1,950 euros gross per month can get a full premium. That lower limit has been raised from 1,800 euros, making more people eligible for the full premium of 600 euros extra per year.
– For the lowest wage earners, there will be a one-off extra 100 euros in November.
– The job bonus decreases the more you earn. The upper earnings limit will be raised from 2,500 to 2,900 euros gross per month for next year.
## Companies
Businesses that are financially sound and “well-run” but still at risk of going under due to increased energy prices can get support. The focus is on offsetting those energy costs and extending bridging loans.
– The government promises 250 million euros for companies that are highly dependent on energy and 1 billion euros for loans and guarantees.
– In exchange for the support, those companies will not be allowed to pay dividends. The government also wants to work with banks to support companies.
## Climate
Many energy measures obviously also have a climate impact. At the same time, one-off additional investments are also being made in a number of already ongoing plans.
– The Blue Deal, the Flemish plan to prevent water scarcity, receives one-off extra 150 million euros.
– The Sigmaplan to prevent flooding gets a one-off 60 million euro.
Being single, and seeing how cutting the Flemish Energy tax is a less than €6 per year gain for a family, it seems like I gain…less than €6. That’s it amongst these measures.
Thanks?
Nva holds on to their doctrine of having a balanced budget, eyeroll, and I wonder if their electorate feels the same way about it.
Feels like im getting nothing.
Fucking dikke bullshit 🙃
Less than €6. Thanks Jambon, you sure have reasons to be proud.
>Education
>
>Things are not going well in education either: there is a huge teacher shortage and, at the same time, quality is visibly declining. Besides the promised money to dampen schools’ energy bills, some additional resources for education have therefore been promised.
>
>Thus, the government promises to further structurally increase the education budget.
>
>There will be an extra 25 million euros a year for pupil transport in special education. Plus another 10 million euros for bus escorts.
Problem: No teachers and decreasing quality of education
Flanders: Have a schoolbus!
Just niks
I think the flemish politicians will be very surprised when they will not be welcome in establishments or to be surprised when people flip them the finger on the street.
If you think this winter will be bad, next year is going to be even worse. Forward markets do not look good. Source: partner is energy buyer.
Niks nada noppes.
Absolutely fuck all. Not ironic, not a single euro will be spared for me.
Minister Dalle tried to convince us in Terzake that this was a serious effort and that they were ´slagkrachtig´.
Jambon argued in patliament that they made forceful and thoughtful decisions without show and without appearing in tv studios. Conner Rousseau rightfully made fun of that.
These politicians just say whatever sounds good, even if it sounds ridiculous in the situation they are in. Can´t they at least adapt their speech a little bit in order not to come across as complete idiots?
I lost more time/money reading through this article than what it actually delivers for me. That says a lot.
Our government is in dire need of restructuration imo, as the overhead of having all these talks likely costed more then the actual benefit for this country.
14 comments
# What does the September Declaration mean specifically for you? An overview of the promised measures
***What has the Flemish government decided to tackle the energy and purchasing power crisis? A few days later than anticipated, Flemish prime minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) has finally presented his September Declaration. What does that mean for your wallet? An overview of the promised interventions.***
The Flemish government is promising EUR 4 billion in both one-off and annual measures until 2027. “On top of that, we foresee another billion in loans and guarantees to support our Flemish companies,” Jambon said. “Despite this considerable effort, we manage to draw up a multiannual budget that will be rebalanced possibly as early as 2026, but certainly by 2027.”
Below is an overview of the promised measures. We will add to this article as more details become clear.
## Growth Package
The Growth Package was the divisive issue during the budget negotiations and immediately the reason why the September statement had to be postponed. The link to the pivot index will not happen. These measures do:
– The basic amount of child benefits will be re-indexed at 2 per cent instead of 1 per cent.
– The target group of social benefits on top of child benefits will be expanded from 30,000 to 80,000 children. There will also be an additional allowance of 100 euros on top of the social allowance this year and next year.
– From next year, the social allowance for those already receiving it will be increased by 180 euros.
## Energy
More and more families and companies are having the greatest difficulty in getting their energy bills paid. The Flemish government always referred to the September declaration for possible measures to this end. It has become this:
– From 1 November to the end of April, there will be a ban on disconnections. At the same time, 40 million euros will be provided to guarantee vulnerable families a minimum supply of natural gas and electricity.
– Families will be guided to a better-maintained heating system, as this would lead to lower bills. There will also be additional funds for PCSWs and CAWs to provide energy advice.
– The Flemish energy tax will disappear from electricity bills for singles and families. Annually, this would barely save a family just 6 euros a year.
– There will be tens of millions of euros of support for local governments to pay their energy bills and 200 million euros to keep the energy bills of schools, care institutions and other public institutions affordable.
– Flemish government itself will use 15 per cent less gas and electricity: that means lower temperatures in buildings, more economical use of hot water and dimming mood lighting.
– At the same time, there will be additional solar panels on public buildings and more investments in heat networks and green heat.
## Welfare
There has been a lot going on around childcare in recent months. Following a fatal incident at a crèche, a commission of enquiry was set up and it came up with a stinging final report for the Agency for Growing Up a few months back.
– The government promises to address the problems with an additional investment of 115 million euros per year in childcare. That money should go towards quality improvement and better support for child care workers. And at the same time for strengthening the care inspectorate and the Agency for Growing Up.
– Via the care budgets, the allowance for people with a high need for care and residents of residential care centres who are not well-off will also be increased.
## Education
Things are not going well in education either: there is a huge teacher shortage and, at the same time, quality is visibly declining. Besides the promised money to dampen schools’ energy bills, some additional resources for education have therefore been promised.
– Thus, the government promises to further structurally increase the education budget.
– There will be an extra 25 million euros a year for pupil transport in special education. Plus another 10 million euros for bus escorts.
## Housing
Housing is becoming increasingly expensive. Especially those who live in energy-guzzling rented housing will face even more financial problems due to a possible indexation of rents. The government therefore proposes the following temporary measures:
– The indexation of rents will be limited. This mainly concerns very poorly insulated rental properties. Anyone renting a house with energy label E or F (the worst energy scores) will not be allowed to index the rent for a year.
– From a rental house with energy label D, indexation is limited to 50 per cent. From energy label C onwards, the landlord is allowed to fully index the rent.
– The Flemish Housing Fund will be reinforced by 250 million euros to provide more social housing loans.
## Work
Low-wage workers get a perk on top of their pay via the job bonus. From January onwards, wages go up for many people due to indexation, which is why the salary cap will be raised from next year.
– Those earning 1,950 euros gross per month can get a full premium. That lower limit has been raised from 1,800 euros, making more people eligible for the full premium of 600 euros extra per year.
– For the lowest wage earners, there will be a one-off extra 100 euros in November.
– The job bonus decreases the more you earn. The upper earnings limit will be raised from 2,500 to 2,900 euros gross per month for next year.
## Companies
Businesses that are financially sound and “well-run” but still at risk of going under due to increased energy prices can get support. The focus is on offsetting those energy costs and extending bridging loans.
– The government promises 250 million euros for companies that are highly dependent on energy and 1 billion euros for loans and guarantees.
– In exchange for the support, those companies will not be allowed to pay dividends. The government also wants to work with banks to support companies.
## Climate
Many energy measures obviously also have a climate impact. At the same time, one-off additional investments are also being made in a number of already ongoing plans.
– The Blue Deal, the Flemish plan to prevent water scarcity, receives one-off extra 150 million euros.
– The Sigmaplan to prevent flooding gets a one-off 60 million euro.
Translated by Deepl (https://www.deepl.com/translator)
Being single, and seeing how cutting the Flemish Energy tax is a less than €6 per year gain for a family, it seems like I gain…less than €6. That’s it amongst these measures.
Thanks?
Nva holds on to their doctrine of having a balanced budget, eyeroll, and I wonder if their electorate feels the same way about it.
Feels like im getting nothing.
Fucking dikke bullshit 🙃
Less than €6. Thanks Jambon, you sure have reasons to be proud.
>Education
>
>Things are not going well in education either: there is a huge teacher shortage and, at the same time, quality is visibly declining. Besides the promised money to dampen schools’ energy bills, some additional resources for education have therefore been promised.
>
>Thus, the government promises to further structurally increase the education budget.
>
>There will be an extra 25 million euros a year for pupil transport in special education. Plus another 10 million euros for bus escorts.
Problem: No teachers and decreasing quality of education
Flanders: Have a schoolbus!
Just niks
I think the flemish politicians will be very surprised when they will not be welcome in establishments or to be surprised when people flip them the finger on the street.
If you think this winter will be bad, next year is going to be even worse. Forward markets do not look good. Source: partner is energy buyer.
Niks nada noppes.
Absolutely fuck all. Not ironic, not a single euro will be spared for me.
Minister Dalle tried to convince us in Terzake that this was a serious effort and that they were ´slagkrachtig´.
Jambon argued in patliament that they made forceful and thoughtful decisions without show and without appearing in tv studios. Conner Rousseau rightfully made fun of that.
These politicians just say whatever sounds good, even if it sounds ridiculous in the situation they are in. Can´t they at least adapt their speech a little bit in order not to come across as complete idiots?
I lost more time/money reading through this article than what it actually delivers for me. That says a lot.
Our government is in dire need of restructuration imo, as the overhead of having all these talks likely costed more then the actual benefit for this country.