0. INTRODUCTION.
The Belgian federalization has led to a situation in which numbers of ministers and administrations in different policy-areas are more or less directly responsible for the combat against social exclusion (see I. The cast of actors).
This institutional situation, and the lack of co-ordination between the different poli cy-makers, creates a rather chaotic political and an even more complicated legal situa tion. Consequently, a general inventory of the political measures is lacking, as is a systematical evaluation of measures taken.
1. DEVELOPMENTS AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL.
The creation of the position of Secretary of State for Social Emancipation (1985), to whom attention for poverty developments was entrusted, proved that poverty had become a policy priority for the Martens VII government. One of the first initiatives of this Secretary of State, Ms. Miet Smet, was the "Interdepartmental Working Group for the Protection of the Social Security of the Disadvantaged".
During the negotiations for the next government, in 1988, attention for poverty problems remained at the focus of the political proposals. That the Secretary of State for Social Emancipation was transferred from the Minister of Social Affairs to the Prime Minister in the Martens VIII government can be considered as a token of the increased interest for poverty problems. 3
At the national level a number of initiatives were taken that aimed at improving the social position and the living conditions of the poor, such as:
the regular and systematic increase of the residual schemes, such as the subsisten ce income and the Guaranteed Income for the Elderly;
- the simplification of the benefits for the handicapped;
the accessibility of special employment programmes for certain persons entitled to the subsistence income.
^ With the new government Dehaene 1, created in 1992, we have for the first time a Minister for Social Integration, Ms. L. Onkelinx.
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2. EVALUATION OF NATIONAL POLICIES.
However, all these measures should be situated within the context of governmental policies as a whole. With respect to poverty, this governmental policy had direct and indirect effects. Indirect effects, since general measures can have thorough consequences upon the living conditions and social position of the poor and on the social production of poverty.
Certain changes in entitlement conditions to unemployment benefits have led to unem ployed losing their entitlement. As a result they had to apply for a subsistence income which - though increased - still remained much lower than the unemployment benefit to which they were formerly entitled.
Another example are measures of economic policy that reduced employment chances of certain groups of unskilled and low skilled workers, this "indirect poverty policy" necessitated specific programmes for training and retraining of these groups (direct policy).
The increase of the amounts in the residual schemes and the creation of specific programmes for the (long-term) unemployed and unskilled thus are part of a direct poverty policy. It is explicitly meant for the poor and population groups with a high poverty risk or it aims to improve living conditions that are typical of the poor.
Government has reserved the following amounts for the financial programmes of this direct poverty policy (residual schemes):
Table 16: Expenditure of central government for the residual schemes (in milliard BEF), Belgium, 1980- 1990.
Year SI* GIE GFA** Total
1980 0,801 4,115 0,032 4,948 1981 1,070 4,463 0,045 5,578 1982 1,493 4,840 0,100 6,433 1983 1,932 5,360 0,117 7,409 1984 2,273 5,894 0,155 8,322 1985 2,352 6,948 0,255 9,555 1986 3,320 7,571 0,332 11,223 1987 3,298 8,617 0,527 12,442 1988 3,529 8,738 0,548 12,815 1989 3,632 9,020 0,591 13,243 1990 3,847 9,319 0,540 13,706 1991 9,756
amounts) is at the expense of the municipalities.
** Guaranteed family allowance, age bonus and maternity benefit included. Source: Vranken, Geldof, 1992: 97.
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That poverty has been at the focus of governmental attention does, however, not mean that governments have perceived poverty in the same way during this whole period and have formulated policy measures from the same political logic. We think that an important shift can be discovered with the coming into office of the Martens VIII government in 1988.14
We want to formulate two hypotheses about governmental policies between 1985 and 1988. Firstly, direct poverty policy (also) has been carried out to deal with the negative impact of general policies upon the condition of the poor. Secondly, this poverty policy announced a social policy of the residual type.
However, since 1988 a reconsideration of policies has started. A number of develop ments indicate that this change goes further than mere words and thoughts. A halt has been called to the constant and sharp fall in social security benefits as compared to National Income per capita since 1983. This positive trend may be related to the priorities of the Martens VIII government policy statement and has certainly been facilitated by the much improved economic situation, which by itself has taken the edge of the problem.
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3. AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL.
This increased interest can also be found at the level of the Communities, particularly in Flanders. This can be illustrated by a selection of initiatives. First, there was the request from Ms. Steyaert, Community Minister for Welfare and the Family, to the Social-E conomic Council for Flanders to advise on a scheme of poverty proposals. Next, her successor, Mr. Lenssens asked the King Baudouin Foundation to constitute a poverty dossier (1988) on which he relied heavily for the formulation of his "Policy proposals on Poverty" (1989). On the other side of the linguistic border, V. Féaux, president of the Executive, asked J. Zwick to propose a poverty policy and coordinate it.
Particularly in Flanders, poverty policy has gained momentum. The link which often - rightly or wrongly - has been laid between interethnic conflicts and poverty has certainly played an important role in this development. The necessary financial means became available in 1989 as a result of the debt rearrangements for the main towns with financial problems, such as Liège. Consequently, Flanders was entitled to a compensati on. In the so-called "St.-Catherine agreement" this money was allocated to a few large towns such as Antwerp and Ghent. In the end, some 2,2 milliard BEF have become available annually for the next ten years.
In 1989 and 1990 1,757 milliard BEF were inscribed in the budget of Mr. Van den Bossche, Community Minister of Home Affairs, as a "special credit to support municipal policies for vulnerable population groups". This fund was distributed between all Flemish municipalities, with the exception of Antwerp and Ghent. The remaining 500 million BEF went to Mr. Lenssens, Community Minister of Welfare and the Family, for projects on migrants and poverty.
With respect to the actual use made of these financial means, a number of criticisms have been made, e.g. by the Social Economic Council for Flanders. But the changes did not go into the direction they proposed. Particularly under the pressure of the municipal authorities a new compromise has been produced. The original amount of 2,2 milliard is since 1991 distributed 50-50 between:
- the Municipal Fund, with less rigid conditions to its use; - the "Flemish Fund for the Integration of the Disadvantaged".
For the next eight years an amount of 1,12 milliard BEF will be reserved annually, by decree, to combat poverty in 15 municipalities with large concentrations of poor. These concentrations will be defined with "objective standards". In each of these municipalities it should be possible to establish acceptable programmes, since the available amount of money is between 16 and 424 million BEF.
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4. CONCLUSION.
The initiatives described in this report deal with the situation in 1990 and 1991, against the background of initiatives taken in the 1980’s. On 24 November 1991 national elections have taken place. In the first months of 1992 new national and regional governments have been installed. This report therefor also describes the end of a government period from 1988 until 1991.
After the latest elections the problem of social exclusion received much more political attention. This became clear in the political discussions and resulted in clear statements in the policy notes. It is important to stress that we notice from 1992 on a much stronger attention for social exclusion in Wallonia.
New initiatives have been announced, or are already introduced in Parliament, but most of them will only start in the 2nd half of 1992. These initiatives will be described in our third annual report.
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