Brussels Horeca Crisis: Industry Threatens Boycott of Pols
The Brussels hospitality sector is in open revolt. On July 15, 2026, two simultaneous developments laid bare the depth of the crisis: Michel De Bloos, owner of the Thai Café chain, publicly criticized Budget Minister Vincent Van Peteghem’s remarks on the flexi-jobs system, while Matthieu Léonard, president of Horeca Brussels, published a scathing open letter declaring “the contract is broken” and threatening to refuse service to elected officials.
The Breaking Point
The crisis centers on the mandatory SCE 2.0 “white cash register” system that took effect on July 1, 2026. All 55,000 Horeca establishments in Belgium — restaurants, hotels, cafes, bars, nightclubs, and friteries — must now install the new system at a cost of approximately €1,000 each. The sector accepted the original SCE 1.0 in 2016 in exchange for a package of compensatory measures: a VAT reduction on meals to 12%, the creation of the flexi-jobs system, and a targeted ONSS social security reduction.
According to Horeca Brussels, every one of those compensatory measures has now been eroded or eliminated. The ONSS reduction was scrapped on July 1 despite Minister Frank Vandenbroucke’s commitment to maintain it, costing establishments €10,000 to €16,000 per year. The flexi-jobs system — originally created exclusively for Horeca — was opened to all sectors without strengthened fiscal controls. Meanwhile, the VAT on hotel accommodation was raised from 6% to 12%, and the long-promised defiscalization of tips remains stalled in parliamentary committee.
”I Don’t Understand This Outburst”
Michel De Bloos, whose Thai Café group operates 25 restaurants and employs approximately 500 people, told La Libre Belgique that he “does not understand” Minister Van Peteghem’s recent remarks questioning the flexi-jobs mechanism. De Bloos described the sector as “transparent and high-performing, but deprived of the margins necessary to invest, hire, and simply continue working.”
Van Peteghem confirmed on July 14 in a Chamber commission his intention to evaluate the flexi-jobs system, calling it a matter of “good governance.” His cabinet has expressed concern that flexi-jobs are being “diverted” from their original purpose. The CSC trade union has supported his call for evaluation, creating an unusual political alignment between a Christian-democratic minister and a socialist union against the hospitality industry.
”The Contract is Broken”
Matthieu Léonard’s open letter, published on the Horeca Brussels website, represents an unprecedented escalation. “The Horeca sector has become the doormat of all our elected officials,” Léonard wrote. “It lives a cruel paradox: it feeds and waters everyone, while itself starving and thirsting to get by.”
The letter, addressed to the federal government and all party presidents, details a litany of grievances beyond the federal level. In the Brussels-Capital Region, the Activa employment aid budget has been slashed from €30 million to less than €10 million. Parking.brussels pricing is driving away customers from the hinterland. Municipalities are raising property taxes, terrace taxes, and signage taxes.
Léonard described sector profit margins as “ridiculously small — 3 to 5% when we still manage to achieve them.” He raised the prospect of refusing service to politicians, asking: “Should we close our doors to our elected officials?”
Broader Context
The Horeca sector represents 55,000 businesses, 160,000 employees, and generates €12 billion in annual contributions to the Belgian economy. The sector has endured successive shocks since 2020 — COVID-19, the energy crisis, and inflation — and now faces what it considers a unilateral breach of the 2016 agreement that established the original white cash register system.
Finance Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) has also announced an evaluation of the flexi-jobs system, signaling that the political pressure on the sector is mounting from multiple directions. The sector’s threat to boycott politicians, if implemented, would have significant symbolic and practical impacts in Brussels, where many restaurants and cafes are frequented by EU and national political figures.
What’s Next
The ball is now in the government’s court. The Horeca sector is demanding a restoration of compensatory measures, including the ONSS reduction, a reformed VAT structure that eliminates the absurdity of 21% VAT on non-alcoholic drinks served at table versus 6% for take-away, and progress on the stalled tip defiscalization bill.
Whether the boycott threat is a genuine negotiating tactic or a sign of deeper desperation remains to be seen. What is clear is that the relationship between the Belgian hospitality sector and its political class has reached a breaking point — and the next move belongs to the government.