Two months ago, I wrote a column about Italy’s fiscal deterioration and included a chart showing the country moving in the wrong direction, both in the past few years as well as since the turn of the century.

Let’s now do the same thing, based on IMF data, for Belgium.

We see the same pattern. The burden of government spending is expanding faster than inflation.

Even more troubling, I also show that the government budget is consuming ever-larger shares of the Belgian economy.

The spending increases are not dramatic, but they show how the squeeze on the private sector is continuously worsening. Sort of like an unhealthy person having a pack-a-day smoking habit. That’s better than smoking two or three packs a day, but nonetheless not good news.

It’s also worth noting that government debt is more than 100 percent of GDP.

In other words, Belgium is an example of my 20th Theorem of Government.

The good news is that the current Belgian government seems to understand that they have to change direction. After all, the current path sooner or later will lead to a fiscal crisis.

The bad news is that Belgian voters are so addicted to government dependency that there are now nationwide protests.

Here are some excerpts from a report by Hannah Kriwak in the EU Observer.

Belgian unions launched a three-day general strike on Monday (24 November), bringing the country to a near standstill as workers protested against the government’s austerity plan targeting pensions, unemployment benefits, and labor protections. …It was the 13th major strike action since prime minister Bart de Wever’s coalition government took office in February 2025. …The unions are protesting the austerity policies of de Wever, a Flemish nationalist who leads a five-party coalition. Belgium is one of the EU’s most heavily-indebted countries, and the government has proposed welfare cuts to reduce the deficit. …The government argues that people are living longer and should therefore work longer. …Despite three strike days and previous strikes throughout the year, the government has yet to respond to the unions’ demands.

Unfortunately, the article does not provide a lot of details.

The government seemingly wants to move policy in the right direction, but it’s unclear whether the reforms are big, Milei-style changes or just a bit of tinkering.

I did find an article indicating that the government wants to introduce a funded pension system, so that would be progress.

Indeed, many other European nations already have moved in that direction and the Netherlands (Belgium’s immediate neighbor) has one of the world’s best private Social Security systems.

But is that too little and too late?

I don’t know, but I’ll close by noting that Belgian politicians have dug a big fiscal hole and it is very difficult to be optimistic about getting better policy. Then again, if you had asked me about Argentina a few years ago, I would have been even more pessimistic, so we should never give up hope.