Belgique

Since 2014, the Flemish government has undertaken a series of reforms of its budgetary system, including the implementation of performance-informed budgeting, which includes both the implementation of spending reviews and performance budgeting. The aim of the reforms is to better integrate policy development and resource allocation and improve the accountability and transparency of the Flemish public sector. This report takes stock of performance-informed budgeting practices in Flanders. It provides an assessment of their key strengths and highlights where improvements can be made. Finally, it includes recommendations to further strengthen the approach to performance-informed budgeting in Flanders.

As countries seek to draw lessons the COVID-19 crisis and increase their future resilience, evaluations are important tools to understand what worked or not, why and for whom. This report builds on the OECD work on 'government evaluations of COVID-19 responses'. It evaluates Belgium’s responses to the pandemic in terms of risk preparedness, crisis management, as well as public health, education, economic and fiscal, and social and labour market policies. Preserving the country’s resilience in the future will require promoting trust in public institutions and whole-of-government approaches to crisis management, reducing inequalities, and preserving the fiscal balance. The findings and recommendations of this report will provide guidance to public authorities in these efforts.

This report addresses housing inequities through a series of analytical chapters and case studies. The cross-country chapters examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing demand, develop a proposal for a green land value tax, evaluate the dynamics between fiscal autonomy and housing supply responsiveness, as well as explore the drivers of inter-regional migration. The case studies unravel the changes of Korea's progressive national property tax and a programme to address regional imbalances, assess the impact of the US property tax system on housing, dive into Norway's property taxation in relation to inequality, as well as survey Belgium's approaches to housing policy. With a blend of empirical data and critical analysis, the report underscores the pressing need for comprehensive strategies in addressing housing inequities. It also offers insights for policymakers and scholars, highlighting the complex balance between national and local housing policies.

This Review assesses the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) and its institutional, operational and analytical performance as an independent fiscal institution. The FPB’s responsibilities have been growing and this Review provides insights into how effectively the institution continues to serve the needs of its stakeholders. As part of this, it looks at the Bureau’s performance related to its new mandate to undertake election budgetary costings and impact assessment, carried out for the first time in relation to the 2019 election.

Au cours de la dernière décennie, le marché du travail de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale s’est amélioré. De nombreuses offres de travail ouvrent des possibilités pour des travailleurs hautement qualifiés, faisant de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale une destination importante pour les talents belges, européens et internationaux. Or, malgré les perspectives de carrière offertes par la région, un nombre important de résidents est exclu du monde du travail. Les travailleurs moins diplômés se font concurrence pour un nombre de postes limités, en dépit des pénuries observées sur le marché du travail. Les facteurs qui mènent à l’exclusion de certains bruxellois et les solutions pour y remédier, doivent être un pilier de toute vision d’avenir de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale. Le marché du travail bruxellois récompense la formation. Faciliter l’accès aux formations disponibles en Région est donc une priorité, notamment pour qu’elles soient adaptées aux différents besoins de la population. Réduire les entraves à la formation est un autre levier d’action. Pour le service public de l'emploi, la simplification des parcours, la mobilité géographique des chercheurs d’emplois moins diplômés et une meilleure prise en compte de la dimension migratoire de l'exclusion peuvent, chacune à leur manière, aider un plus grand nombre de bruxellois à trouver un emploi de qualité.

In the face of what has increasingly been referred to as an ongoing 'permacrisis', governments must cope with and respond to emerging threats while already grappling with longstanding issues such as climate change, digital disruption and low levels of trust. In this context, understanding new approaches and spreading successful ideas has never been more important. To promote this, the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) has analysed 1 084 innovative initiatives from 94 countries to derive and understand novel government practices. The report discusses four key trends: 1) new forms of accountability for a new era of government, 2) new approaches to care, 3) new methods for preserving identities and strengthening equity and 4) new ways of engaging citizens and residents. Ten case studies and dozens of supporting examples illustrate these trends.

This paper provides an analysis of the Belgian federal government’s practices regarding the institutionalisation, quality and impact of policy evaluations. The paper takes a holistic approach, which not only looks at individual practices, but also at how those can come together so that evaluation becomes an integral part of the policy cycle. Public policy evaluation promotes evidence-informed policymaking and ensures that policies improve outcomes by bringing an understanding of what works, why, for whom, and under what circumstances. Evaluation is also a core tool of sound public financial management, as it helps governments spend better and promotes accountability and transparency in spending. The paper proposes concrete policy recommendations for improving the Belgian federal government’s evaluation system.

Around one-third of the European Union’s budget is dedicated to cohesion policy, which promotes and supports the overall harmonious development of its Member States and regions. The success of this investment relies on effective partnerships among governments, stakeholders, and citizens. Citizens have a key role to play in shaping decisions on public investment, as well as in making public authorities more transparent and accountable. From July 2020-December 2021, the European Commission and the OECD partnered to explore how five authorities across Europe could place citizens at the centre of their investment decisions. This report summarises lessons learned throughout this project and, particularly, the results of applying innovative citizen participation methods to cohesion policy more broadly.

The introduction of standardised tests in Flemish schools aims to generate regular, reliable data for educators and policy makers. At an early stage of development, this report uses a research-based framework to engage stakeholders in thinking about the opportunities standardised tests could bring for their work. It builds on feedback from key stakeholders regarding their perceptions, hopes and concerns about the introduction of standardised tests. Feedback was gathered during a series of structured discussions and a stakeholder reflection seminar. The report identifies ways to strengthen the opportunity, capability and motivation of decision makers at all levels of the education system to use evidence effectively for their respective practice – including teaching and quality assurance. The report identifies lessons learnt to support the further development of standardised tests. The publication is part of OECD work on strategic education governance, which supports countries in identifying the best ways to achieve national objectives in a context of multi‑level governance structures and complex environments. The work identifies and promotes effective governance processes in the domains of accountability, capacity, knowledge governance, stakeholder involvement, strategic thinking and adopting a whole‑of‑system perspective. This publication will be of interest to policy makers, education leaders, the education research community and all those interested in education governance.

La Belgique a progressé en découplant plusieurs pressions environnementales de la croissance économique, en améliorant l’épuration des eaux usées et en étendant les zones protégées. Les régions ont atteint des niveaux élevés de récupération et de recyclage et ont été les pionnières des politiques d'économie circulaire. Toutefois, des efforts supplémentaires sont nécessaires pour progresser vers la neutralité carbone, réduire la pollution de l'air et de l'eau, enrayer la perte de biodiversité et consolider les résultats des initiatives d'économie circulaire. Le renforcement de la coordination entre le gouvernement fédéral et les régions, et entre les régions, ainsi que l'amélioration de la cohérence des politiques seront des facteurs clés de progrès. À mesure que l'urgence COVID-19 se fait moins pressante, les efforts de redressement devraient viser à remettre le pays sur la bonne voie pour atteindre les objectifs de développement durable. Investir dans les infrastructures vertes et à faible émission de carbone, promouvoir l'économie circulaire, renforcer le prix du carbone et supprimer progressivement les subventions néfastes à l'environnement devraient être des priorités. Ce rapport est le troisième Examen environnemental de la Belgique. Il évalue les progrès réalisés vers le développement durable et la croissance verte, avec des chapitres spéciaux sur la biodiversité, la gestion des déchets et des matières et l'économie circulaire. Cette version abrégée contient le résumé, ainsi que l’évaluation et les recommandations officielles du rapport, qui reposent sur les trois chapitres consacrés aux évolutions et faits récents, à la gouvernance et à la croissance verte, ainsi que sur les deux chapitres qui examinent en détail la problématique de la biodiversité, et celle de la gestion des déchets et des matières et l'économie circulaire. La version intégrale du rapport est disponible en anglais sur le site de l’OCDE.