We’re expected to believe that regulation will not fail next time. Yet, there’s no shame in questioning your own beliefs and being sufficiently sceptical. Financial reforms as seen by official bodies today have to be implemented in the short term.

At this moment comparable conclusions to those of our extraordinary parliamentary commission are being drawn all around the world. It would really be counterproductive to lead a strategy of divide and rule.

For Marc De Vos, it is “game over” with the preparation of ageing in Belgium. Our social security is not sustainable. The budgetary situation needs fixing, but only policy reform can save us. We urgently need a broad societal consensus on a new socioeconomic model.

Marc De Vos stresses that the harmonisation of dismissal law for blue collar and white collar workers has to serve two priorities: equal rights and labour market circulation. We need to combine income security with tailor made re-employment.

Marc De Vos points out that care for the elderly constitutes a fantastic economic opportunity. He underscores that government has the task to offer a framework that allows seniors to choose and finance their twilight years.

It is important for us to learn from the failure of the Japanese experience in the 90s. A first lesson is certainly that the bank system has to be seriously cleared up. The Japanese financial institutions are associated with the notion of zombie banks.