Negotiations among members of the Belgian federal government will carry on as they seek to reach an agreement on a proposed tax reform. While talks initially started on a positive note,

some parties grew pessimistic after a new memorandum on labor market reforms was introduced.

Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) presented a new tax reform proposal during bilateral talks on Sunday. The scope of the plans has been adjusted, as the original reform was projected to amount to 6 billion euros. However, the revised proposal now stands at 2 billion euros—a figure that Vooruit chairman Conner Rousseau also advocated for last week. Government members hailed this reduction as a "more realistic" approach.

On Monday, discussions revolved around labor market reforms. Deputy Prime Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) recently proposed reducing unemployment benefits to incentivize more homemakers to enter the labor market.

However, not all government partners welcomed the memorandum on the labor market presented by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Criticisms were voiced, suggesting that the Prime Minister's focus leaned more toward his Open VLD affiliation rather than seeking a compromise within the government. Agreement on labor market proposals has yet to be reached.

Negotiations will continue on Monday evening, although a compromise is not expected to be reached at this stage. Photo by EU2017EE Estonian Presidency, Wikimedia commons.