European Court is ticking Belgium over payment arrears
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On Thursday, the European Court of Justice tapped Belgium on the excessive payment arrears in the government sector on Thursday. In particular, the federal government and the Walloon and Brussels Region do not properly correct their invoices with the private sector on time.
Source: Belga
Today at 13:12
A European directive from 2011 requires governments to pay their invoices within 30 days. After all, they should be regarded as reliable and give the example in combating payment arrears in business. In Belgium, several governments struggled with that obligation. In 2021 the committee opened an infringement procedure, and after a lack of progress, the case finally ended up at the Court of Justice last year.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal acknowledges Thursday that Belgium has renounced its obligations by not ensuring that the federal government, the Walloon Region and the Brussels Region respect the payment terms. The judgment is based on 2021 for the federal level, the first half of 2022 for the Brussels region and several periods for the Walloon Region: 2020 and then from 2022 « until at least January 15, 2025 ».
The directive also foresees that the government must provide a fixed reimbursement for the collection costs of the creditor. According to the Commission, Belgium, too, was in default in that area, but the Court of Appeal declares that part of the complaint inadmissible because the Commission only came up with it in the course of the infringement procedure. For the same reason, the Court also rejected the complaint against the payment arrears of Brussels municipalities.
