Minder publiek geld voor de partijen?
Moins d’argent public pour les partis?
Re-Bel Zoom webinar
Monday 20 December 2021, 12.15-13.45
In Belgium like in all democracies, political parties play a central role. In Belgium like in many other democracies, they receive public funding so as to enable them to perform their democratic role and so as to counterbalance their unequal capacity to rely on private funding. But in Belgium, the public funding of parties, both direct and indirect, is particularly generous. Should its overall level be reduced? Or should it be made more degressive, so that smaller parties can function without big parties becoming excessively rich? Or should it take different forms, for example by shifting resources from the parties themselves to parliamentary staff? Or should one rather impose restrictions on how the parties can spend the public money they receive, for example on policy-oriented research rather than on communication? And is there any hope that enough parties will agree to reduce their own public funding or constrain what they can do with it?
Language regime: Dutch and French with simultaneous translation
Moderation: Béatrice DELVAUX (Le Soir) & Karel VERHOEVEN (De Standaard)
Welcoming: Philippe VAN PARIJS (Re-Bel & UCLouvain)
Introduction: Kristof CALVO (federal deputy, Groen)
Challenges: Bart MADDENS (KU Leuven) and Thomas LEGEIN (ULB)
General discussion
Concluding comments: Paul DE GRAUWE (Re-Bel & LSE)
Documents
Kristof CALVO, Van een particratie met veel geld naar een parlementaire democratie met meer ideeën, discussie note Re-Bel, december 2021.
Edoardo TRAVERSA & Kris DESCHOUWER, “Financement des partis politiques, trop is te veel”, Le Soir 17/12/2021.
Kris DESCHOUWER & Edoardo TRAVERSA, “De partijfinanciering beloont de status quo”, De Standaard 17/12/2021.
Thomas LEGEIN, “Moins d’argent pour les partis politiques. Réaction à la proposition de Kristof Calvo”, Re-Bel, 20/12/2021.
Bart MADDENS & al., “Hoe halen we partijen van het infuus van partijfinanciering”, Samenleving & Politiek 9, 2021 [background for Bart Maddens’ contribution to the Re-Bel webinar of 20/12/2021)