Digital: bridging the digital divide and administrative simplification

RPD commitments

The Regional Policy Declaration addresses the digital transition from several angles:

Digital divide

• Digital inclusion plan — support for digitally disadvantaged groups (seniors, newcomers, people in precarious situations)
• Public Digital Spaces — maintaining and strengthening the existing network
• Digital mediation — training municipal staff and social workers

Administrative simplification

• Easy Brussels — single digital window for regional administrative procedures
• IRISbox — online services platform, to be modernised and expanded
• "Only once" principle — stop asking citizens for data the administration already holds

Smart city

• Paradigm (CIRB) — regional IT centre, smart city strategy operator
• Open data — expansion of the regional open data portal
• Connectivity — wifi and 5G coverage in public spaces

Brussels as AI capital

• European positioning — attracting technology companies, in partnership with BeCentral and universities
• AI in government — targeted experiments to improve public services

Brussels Digital Ordinance (25 January 2024)

The Brussels Region, COCOM and COCOF jointly adopted on 25 January 2024 a joint decree and ordinance setting out the framework for the digital transition of Brussels public authorities. The text was published in the Belgian Official Journal on 21 February 2024 (No. 2024000830) and applies to regional, municipal and intermunicipal administrations and to the services of the Government and Parliament.

Citizen rights guaranteed by the text

The framework institutes six formal rights:

• carry out any administrative procedure online
• receive communications via eBox with registered value and certified date
• withdraw digital consent at any time
• benefit from support for online procedures
• access offline alternatives: physical counters, telephone, postal mail
• benefit from adapted access (persons with disabilities) and adapted opening hours

The text requires administrations to "maintain or develop the means of physical interaction" — it is not a simple optional alternative but a formal obligation. The European reference framework cited is eIDAS, the Web Accessibility Directive, and the Single Digital Gateway regulation.

Compliance timeline

• 6 months after entry into force for any new administrative procedure
• 60 months for compliance of existing procedures

Civil-society contestation and annulment appeal

The ordinance has been the subject of sustained contestation since September 2022, led notably by Lire et Écrire Bruxelles, MOC Bruxelles, Gang des Vieux en Colère, fedabxl and a set of 24+ actors (associations, umbrella organisations, trade unions). Mobilisation timeline:

• 8 September 2022 — symbolic "giant queue"
• 22-23 September 2022 — civil-society assembly, ~500 actors
• December 2022 — demonstration of ~1,000 people
• April-June 2023 — local assemblies (Anderlecht, Molenbeek, Schaerbeek, Ixelles)
• 10 October 2023 — 5th rally at Place de l'Albertine (~400 people)
• 12 January 2024 — parliamentary passage
• 2024 — filing of an annulment appeal before the Constitutional Court. A ruling has since been handed down (the organiser of the 23 April 2026 rally refers to the "ordinance as interpreted by the Constitutional Court") — its exact scope remains to be documented.

Opponents argue that the text's guarantees are formal but not binding: no sanction for the absence of a counter, no density standard, no budget allocated to maintaining offline channels.

Figures on the digital divide (2022 Barometer)

The Digital Inclusion Barometer of the King Baudouin Foundation (2022 edition, cited by Lire et Écrire) notes that:

• 4 Brussels residents in 10 are in a situation of digital vulnerability
• 1 Belgian in 2 at the national level
• 75% of low-qualified persons encounter significant digital difficulties

The updated 2024 Barometer data show a slight decrease to 36% for the Brussels population aged 16-74 (see Mini-Bru section above) — but the concentration on low-qualified, elderly and precarious populations remains massive.

Rally 'L'humain d'abord !' (23 April 2026)

On Thursday 23 April 2026 from 10:00 to 17:00, a rally organised by Lire et Écrire Bruxelles was held at Place Fernand Cocq in Ixelles (1050). The publicly stated objective: "to exert significant pressure on the 19 Brussels municipalities" so that they comply with the ordinance as interpreted by the Constitutional Court. It is part of a cycle of mobilisations planned for spring 2026 (8 May: Coalition 8 Mai appeal; 12 May: national federal demonstration on pensions / Arizona, separate issue).

Sources: Belgian Official Journal (21 February 2024); be.brussels; Lire et Écrire; fedabxl. Confidence: official (legal framework and Barometer data); unconfirmed (exact scope of the Constitutional Court ruling, participant count at the rally — to consolidate with tomorrow's press coverage).

Key agencies

• Paradigm (CIRB) — IT centre for the Brussels-Capital Region, technical operator
• Easy Brussels — administrative simplification agency
• IRISbox — online services platform

Physical Infrastructure: Data Centres

The 'AI capital' ambition relies on expanding physical infrastructure. The KevlinX BRU01 data centre (Neder-Over-Heembeek, 32 MW, ~150 jobs) has been operational since January 2026 within the Region's territory. Belgium's data centre electricity consumption is estimated at 3.2 TWh (4% of national electricity), with projections of 7 to 15.5 TWh by 2035. Data centres are absent from the PRDD and have no specific urban planning category.

Source: KevlinX, Elia, DPR 2026.

Structural data: Mini-Bru IBSA 2026

The Mini-Bru 2026 places Brussels at the forefront of digital in Belgium:

Brussels has the highest rate of advanced digital skills in the country and the strongest SME digital intensity, underpinned by an ecosystem of 28,111 ICT jobs.

Regional R&D reaches EUR 2,532.9M (2.45% of GDP), with 15,367 researchers (FTE) of whom 71.9% are in the private sector.

Source: BISA Mini-Bru 2026 (Statbel, Eurostat, Belspo, 2023-2025 data).

Innoviris freezes all new R&D projects (March 2026)

The regional research and innovation fund Innoviris has announced it will not launch any calls for proposals in 2026, following a budget cut of ~20%. Ongoing projects from 2025 will continue, but no new projects will be funded.

Impact on the digital sector:

• The freeze directly affects the digital innovation projects that Innoviris funded in partnership with Brussels universities and SMEs
• The RPD ambition to position Brussels as an "AI capital" is undermined by the loss of the public R&D lever
• The regional R&D budget (EUR 2,532.9M, 2.45% of GDP) already fell below the European target of 3%
• The private sector accounts for 71.9% of researchers — without public co-funding, mixed projects (public-private) lose their rationale

The measure fits into the broader austerity context: Hub.brussels (international network cut by ⅔), Visit Brussels (subsidies 22→8M EUR), federal VAT increase. The Brussels innovation ecosystem is hit from four sides.

Source: BRUZZ (27 March 2026).

Sources and methodology

The commitments documented above come from the official RPD text and corroborating press sources covering the government agreement of 12 February 2026.