« Deontologically as wrong as possible »: Minister Jambon in a troubled position through lecture by his cabinet chief

A guest lecture with Wesley De Visscher, the cabinet chief of Finance Minister Jan Jambon and co-negotiator of the Arizona government, which « goes far beyond figures or texts », « a glimpse into the scenes of tax reform » and « no remote analysis, but a sharp reflection directly from first hand first hand. For example, the Bruges organizer of business lectures SBM recommends the event of Monday evening on his website. Cost for the participants: 160 euros, excluding VAT.

The subject was the program law that the De Wever government recently approved. That law contains a first series of reforms, such as the limitation of unemployment over time but also tax measures. Consider adjustments in the tax on company cars or the tax benefit on a second home.

Only that law has not yet been submitted in parliament, which must first be informed according to the plants. « Deontologically as wrong as is possible, » says Green MP Meyrem Almaci, who raised the situation on Tuesday in the Finance Chamber Committee.

Criticism opposition

Almaci demands text and explanation from Jambon and received support from opposition colleagues Lode Vereeck (Vlaams Belang), Sofie Merckx (PvdA) and Alexia Bertrand (Open VLD), who wants the Visscher himself to give the same college to the parliament.

Opposition member Vincent van Quickenborne (Open VLD) is that it is not the first time that the Visscher gave a lecture. Also on 23 May he gave a symposium about investment taxation in Brussels for another organization. Admission was then 356 euros. « Are there still, Mr Minister? A matter that we know where to be to know what is stated in the Program Act. »

Jambon: « Not informed »

Jambon himself responded briefly: he was not aware of the lecture, and asks after what exactly was said in Bruges. « I do not suspect that my head of cabinet was paid, but that the people had to pay in to get there. I have already given a guest lecture in Leuven about pensions, that was public, nothing is wrong with that, I think. »

A little after noon, Jambon and his cabinet chief came to clarify the business. Jambon once again quotes that he has clear agreements with his employees. A lecture is never paid and there is only talk about things that are publicly available.

De Visscher himself explains that before he recorded his position as a head of cabinet, he was a tax teacher at Syntra. At a final event with 51 students from the Tax Club of SBM and another six external parties, he came to give another guest lesson. « Classically the school asks money for the presence of non-students. But I explicitly asked not to be paid, » says De Visscher. « I have passed the tax measures from the coalition agreement. I have not given any details about legal texts. I have certainly not given tax tips and tricks, tax advice or practical facts there. I consciously stayed far away. » In addition to SBM, he gave two of those kinds of guest lessons. To remove all doubts, he will transfer the PowerPoint of his lecture to the parliament.

SBM: “Unpaid lecture”

At SBM they are just as formal: De Visscher, who has been a teacher as a teacher since 2023 as a teacher in the Tax Adviser training « provided an unpaid lecture about the wider tax reform ». « The coalition agreement was discussed and insofar as the public already knew the current developments around it. »

With the opposition they don’t all believe it. « Why would those people pay for an explanation that every parliamentary member can give here? » Says Almaci. She and her colleagues suspect that the Visscher did go beyond his book and explained things that are not yet generally known. « You give prior knowledge, » says Alexia Bertrand. The majority varies from full support to a mild question for more « caution and transparency ».

It is not the first time that an N-VA cabinetard was discredited for these types of lectures. In 2018, a consultant from then Minister of Finance Johan Van Overtveldt (N-VA) was discredited because he acted as a guest speaker at Practicali, an agency that provides courses on taxation. The Van Overtveldt cabinet then denied that Practicali was favored, and assured that cabinet employees who want to give a lecture should always request permission for that. The consultant in question no longer acted as a guest speaker at Practicali.