To all those who expressed interest in the Re-Bel initiative:

It is our pleasure to remind you of our next webinar, which will be held this Monday 20 December (12.15-13.45) and be devoted to the question of whether the public funding of Belgium's political parties should be reduced. Federal deputy Kristof CALVO will present the core ideas and proposals contained in a booklet he prepared (in Dutch) for the occasion under the title "From a particracy with money to a parliamentary democracy with ideas" and the subtitle "Political parties and their financing: reform or disappear!". The booklet will be made available on our website after the webinar.

As usual, the lead speaker will be challenged by two academics, in this case Bart MADDENS (KU Leuven) and Thomas LEGEIN (ULB). The exchange will be moderated by Béatrice DELVAUX (Le Soir) and Karel VERHOEVEN (De Standaard). The public will be able to ask questions through the chat. Simultaneous translation (from Dutch to French and Dutch to French) will be kindly provided by students-interpreters from the KU Leuven and the ULB.

If you wish to attend and have not yet registered, please do so HERE no later than this Sunday 19 December 2pm.  A zoom link will be sent to all those registered shorty before the event.

Do feel free to forward this mail to whoever you think might be interested.

Best wishes,

Paul De Grauwe and Philippe Van Parijs,
coordinators of the Re-Bel initiative 

Monday 20 December 2021, 12.15-13.45  

Minder publiek geld voor de partijen?/ Moins d'argent public pour les partis?

In Belgium like in all democracies, political parties playa 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)

Prior registration indispensable.