Will Wallonia’s new trust-based funding model strengthen local social cohesion?

The Walloon Government approved at first reading on 9 July 2026 a reform of its local social-cohesion policy, replacing the current project-based subsidy system with an annual municipal allocation provisionally called “Initiatives du Vivre Ensemble

The change concerns a substantial part of Wallonia’s local social infrastructure. According to the regional government, 204 municipalities currently participate in a Plan de Cohésion Sociale

Under the proposed system, a municipality would no longer have to submit a detailed plan for repeated regional validation. Its municipal council would instead adopt a resolution setting out a local vision based on a diagnosis of residents’ needs, followed by priorities and individual or collective actions. Municipalities could delegate part of their allocation to a CPAS or an association. The regional administration’s role would move towards guidance and subsequent oversight rather than detailed control before spending begins.

François Desquesnes, Walloon Minister responsible for Local Authorities, said the government wanted to “trust the municipalities”, simplify their work and allow them to act more quickly. Yves Coppieters, Walloon Minister responsible for Solidarity, argued that stable and flexible support would help local actors prevent isolation and connect residents with their rights. Both ministers are members of Les Engagés in the MR–Les Engagés regional coalition led by Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont during the 2024–2029 legislature.

The government says the proposal grew out of an evaluation involving 201 participants representing 80% of Walloon local authorities. Respondents called for simpler procedures, better regional guidance and greater capacity to prepare for crises. The experience behind that conclusion is concrete: municipalities and CPAS were frontline institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic, the July 2021 floods, the energy-price crisis and the reception of Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s invasion.

The reform would also absorb two existing schemes, “Été solidaire, je suis partenaire” and “Well’ Camp”, into the new decree and funding structure. The government presents that consolidation as a way to remove overlapping procedures. Its communiqué does not, however, state the total future allocation, the distribution formula among municipalities or the precise indicators that will be used for retrospective evaluation. Those omissions matter because autonomy is only useful if local authorities receive sufficient and predictable resources.

The institutional boundary is important. This is principally a Walloon regional policy, not a federal reform. Wallonia regulates its municipalities and finances local cohesion measures within regional competences and, for certain social matters, competences exercised following transfers under Article 138 of the Belgian Constitution. Federal decisions can nevertheless alter local demand. Changes to unemployment protection, migration rules or household purchasing power may send more people to municipal services and CPAS without automatically increasing the Walloon allocation.

The current framework is rooted in the Walloon decrees of 2008 and 2018. The 2018 legislation defined cohesion as promoting equal opportunities, equitable conditions and effective access to fundamental rights. It required local plans to pursue two linked goals: reducing precarity and inequality for individuals, and building collective solidarity. The 2020–2025 programme was extended through 31 December 2026 by a decree adopted in June 2025, giving the government time to design its replacement without abruptly interrupting existing services.

Two political and administrative readings now coexist. The MR–Les Engagés government sees annual allocations and lighter prior control as a practical application of its 2024–2029 programme, which emphasises municipal autonomy, simplification and trust. Local project coordinators and parliamentarians scrutinising the transition have focused instead on continuity. In a February 2026 parliamentary question, Arnaud Dewez reported uncertainty among PCS coordinators about the timetable, the future framework and its implications for municipal teams. During the earlier extension debate, Ecolo parliamentarian Bénédicte Linard sought assurances that evaluation would not lead to job losses or weaker support for beneficiaries. Desquesnes replied that the extension was designed to provide continuity and allow municipalities, CPAS and operators to prepare for 2027.

Those perspectives are not necessarily irreconcilable. A less prescriptive system could free social workers and municipal staff from form-filling and let rural and urban authorities respond differently. But shifting from approved projects to broad allocations also transfers more responsibility to municipal councils and makes transparent allocation criteria, measurable outcomes and meaningful retrospective scrutiny more important. Residents’ access to services should not depend excessively on a municipality’s administrative capacity or political priorities.

The next decisive documents will therefore be the draft decree, its financial tables and the opinions produced during consultation. Parliament will have to test whether the promised stability applies to funding as well as procedure, how existing staff and partnerships will cross into the new system, and what happens when a municipality’s results fall short. Until those details are published and the decree is adopted, Wallonia has established the direction of travel—but not yet the complete operating model.