Ken Divjak – Our man in Flanders
In this new section, Onze Man in Flanders highlights the contrasts in terms of mobility between the Netherlands and Belgium. Today: the political wrangling over the EV subsidy in Flanders.
It all looked promising: Flanders – just like the Netherlands – would open the subsidy fund for EVs on January 9. A month later, the cover is still in place and suddenly major adjustments have to be made, both in terms of the total budget and the term of the subsidy.
Council of State
The Flemish Government is once again doing well abroad. Although the government parties agreed in 2023 to spread 75 million euros in EV subsidies over three years, the digital counter to apply for the premium is still completely closed. The Belgian Council of State, the government’s advisory body, ruled this week that the premium is contrary to the principle of equality. Why? Because not everyone would be eligible for the first tranche of 20 million euros this year. No one knows how many buyers will apply for 5,000 euros for a new EV or 3,000 euros for a used one, which means that some of the applicants may be left out. When the EV incentive was announced in November 2023, only a handful of electric cars under 40,000 euros were eligible. At the beginning of 2024 – traditionally the salon month in Belgium, even without a real show – there were suddenly 59, causing interest to increase exponentially. Tesla even stunted at one point with Model Y stock worth 39,990 euros, which would still cost 34,990 euros after deducting the premium. No wonder that the popular EV brand registered 1,826 cars in January
set in Belgium.
If we assume that other brands have also done well due to the price drops and the promised premium, then the requests may turn out to be many.
Compromise à la Belgian
As usual, the ministers have today come up with a Belgian compromise. The EV premium will finally be available from next Monday, February 12 at 1 p.m., but will only be awarded in 2024. This reduces the total budget from 75 million euros over three years to 26 million euros over one year, although this is 6 million euros more for 2024 than originally planned. In this way, the Flemish government hopes, on the one hand, to avoid expensive lawsuits with parties who miss the mark and, on the other hand, to close the gaping hole in the budget. However, it seems that this is also a political game, with the right-wing party N-VA not giving the liberals any gifts in an election year. So anyone who wanted to use their old car until 2025 or ’26 and then enjoy a premium (albeit reduced to 3,000 euros) is in for the trouble in Flanders, as we say in the south of the Netherlands.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl