Brussels ministers call federal cut of 700 Brussels Deals places “an attack against Brussels”
Two ministers in the Brussels regional government, Ahmed Laaouej (PS) and De Smedt, have denounced the removal of 700 places from the Brussels Deals programme, calling it “an attack against Brussels”, according to Brussels broadcaster BX1.
In 30 seconds
- Brussels regional ministers Ahmed Laaouej (PS) and De Smedt denounced the removal of 700 places from the Brussels Deals programme as “an attack against Brussels”, according to BX1.
- Ahmed Laaouej leads the Brussels PS federation; the PS sits in opposition to the federal Arizona coalition led by Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA).
- The federal government has pursued multi-year budget consolidation since February 2025, under pressure from Belgium's deficit and EU fiscal rules.
- Employment policy has been largely regional since the 2014 sixth state reform, run in Brussels through Actiris, but many schemes depend on federal financing decisions.
The Brussels Deals are a subsidised employment-support programme in the Brussels-Capital Region, from which 700 places are reportedly being removed. Ahmed Laaouej is the leader of the Brussels PS federation and, per BX1, a minister in the Brussels regional government, alongside his colleague De Smedt (full identity not independently verified). The dispute pits the Brussels regional government against the federal Arizona coalition — N-VA, MR, Les Engagés, Vooruit and CD&V — led by Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA), which has pursued multi-year budget consolidation since taking office in February 2025. Employment policy is largely regional (run through Actiris) since the 2014 sixth state reform, but federal budget decisions still condition many co-funded Brussels schemes.
Background
Tension over who funds the capital is as old as the Brussels-Capital Region itself, created in 1989 with a financing law it has contested ever since — commuters use its services while paying taxes elsewhere, and international institutions pay none. The 2014 sixth state reform regionalised most employment policy while leaving unemployment benefits and key financing levers federal, creating a structural asymmetry: federal cuts cascade into regional programmes the regions must then administer. Since the Arizona coalition took federal office in February 2025 without the PS, Brussels francophone socialists have framed successive federal savings — most prominently the time limit on unemployment benefits — as disproportionately targeting the capital.
What to do
Jobseekers currently in or hoping to enter Brussels Deals placements should watch for communication from Actiris and programme operators about whether existing places are protected; commune-level CPAS services may face higher demand if activation places disappear.
Impact
Regional — The impact is concentrated in the Brussels-Capital Region: fewer subsidised places in a labour market where activation schemes carry a disproportionate load, added pressure on Actiris and on municipal CPAS welfare offices already bracing for the effects of the federal time limit on unemployment benefits, and a further deterioration in the working relationship between the regional government and the federal coalition.
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