In Belgium, the trompe-l’oeil of compulsory wage indexation
DECRYPTION – “Fairer” at first sight, this system does not however prevent strong wage increases.
Correspondent in Brussels
Arlette, a Frenchwoman living in Brussels, first believed in a bad joke. Then, she realized the obvious: her rent has indeed just increased by 9%. And that’s just the beginning. According to inflation discounters, a further drop of at least 4.5% is expected for next year. Let’s bet that its owner will not try to round up again. “It’s a custom in Belgium, he explained to her. But if you’d rather bother with pennies, that’s your right.”
While its big neighbors threw in the towel a long time ago – in 1983, in France, during the famous “turning point in austerity” – Belgium is one of the few EU countries with Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta to continue the automatic and compulsory indexation of income from wages and land, social allowances and pensions. And it is a totem for the syndicates and the owners of the kingdom. “It would be very complicated for the federal government…