‘I’m in crisis every day’: prices outpace Belgians’ inflation-matched pay

Even in a country with automatic increases to pay and benefits, there are concerns over the cost of living

At first glance, Belgium seems to have found the answer to the cost of living crisis that is gripping Europe. In this prosperous country where trade unions remain relatively powerful, wages, pensions and benefits rise automatically in line with inflation.

Many governments abandoned similar policies after the oil price shocks of the 1970s, but Belgium has continued to protect workers' wages in this way. Luxembourg is the only other European country that still fully links wages to prices, although a few other countries have more restricted indexation policies.