Reform of the regional administration: from 25 entities to 4 pillars

The announced "Big Bang": from ~25 entities to 4 pillars

The Regional Policy Declaration (DPR) of 13 February 2026 announces a major restructuring of the Brussels administration. The objective: to consolidate approximately 25 regional entities into 4 major pillars, aiming for 250 to 300 million EUR in savings by 2029.

Pillar 1 — Shared support service

Pooling of cross-cutting functions: human resources (talent.brussels), IT (Paradigm, Connect IT), finance and budget, statistics (IBSA), equal opportunities (Equal.brussels), simplification (Easy.brussels).

Pillar 2 — Core missions (SPRB)

Consolidation of policy directorates: Brussels International, Bruxelles Mobilite (administrative functions), Brussels Economy (with Innoviris, Screen.Brussels), Brussels Employment (integration of Actiris "under review"), Brussels Local Authorities, Brussels Housing (with Homegrade), Brussels Urban Planning (merger of perspective.brussels + urban.brussels — confirmed for 2026), Safe.Brussels. Among these directorates, Brussels International absorbs the regional commissioner for Europe, whose post is to be abolished on 1 July 2026: see the dedicated dossier.

Pillar 3 — infrastructure.brussels

Public-law corporation bringing together operational services: Bruxelles Mobilite (construction, maintenance and DITP divisions), Port of Brussels (infrastructure), Bruxelles Environnement (operational services), Parking.brussels, LEZ management, ANPR cameras.

Pillar 4 — Land platform

Coordination of land management: SAU (Urban Development Corporation), citydev.brussels, SLRB (social housing), Housing Fund, Port of Brussels (land concessions).

Hiring freeze

The hiring freeze introduced in December 2023 by the outgoing government has been extended indefinitely:

• 2026: total freeze (operational + non-operational)
• From 2027: freeze maintained except for operational functions
• Mechanism: no replacement of departures (retirements, resignations), internal mobility preferred
• No layoffs announced
• Projected savings: 50M EUR (2026), cumulating to 125M EUR (2029)
• Additional reduction of 25M EUR through the downsizing of ministerial cabinets

A regional "pool de compétences" to absorb the hiring freeze (3 July 2026)

The Brussels Minister for the Public Service Dirk De Smedt (Anders) announced on 3 July 2026 the launch of a "pool de compétences" (Dutch: competentiepool — no official term has yet been announced in French, Dutch, English or German; BGM uses this working descriptive translation) intended to redirect staff from overstaffed administrations toward services facing a shortage of personnel.

The tool aims to structurally address the mismatch created by the hiring freeze (active since December 2023, see above): the freeze has reduced staff inflows but has not resolved the imbalance between administrations with surplus staff and those with genuine needs. Two tracks are planned:

• A fast track: volunteer staff go through a centralised matching procedure and can start, within 4 to 8 weeks, in a service with a concrete need, while keeping their status
• A requalification track, longer (6 to 18 months), for moves that require upskilling

Social dialogue on the project starts on 14 July 2026, followed by a pilot phase to test the first tracks. Full operationalisation is targeted for 30 June 2027. Trade unions are asking for prompt clarity on which administrations are affected.

Source: BRUZZ (3 July 2026). Confidence: unconfirmed (single source, no other outlet has picked up the information so far).

First merger: perspective.brussels + urban.brussels (2026)

The merger of perspective.brussels (territorial development, 174 staff) and urban.brussels (urban planning and heritage) into a single entity called "Brussels Urban Planning" is the first concrete operation announced. It aims to create an integrated permit combining urban planning and environmental competences (currently split between Bruxelles Environnement and urban.brussels).

The case of Actiris (1,518 staff, headcount doubled in 20 years) has been identified as a potential integration into "Brussels Employment", but remains at the study stage.

Decree approved in first reading (5 March 2026)

The Dilliès government approved on 5 March 2026, in first reading, a decree creating a large transversal administration. This project concretises Pillar 1 (common support service) by consolidating transversal functions (HR, IT, finance, budget, statistics) under a single structure, placed under the authority of Minister of Public Service Dirk De Smedt (Anders).

This is the first formal legislative act of the 4-pillar reform. The second reading is expected in the following weeks.

Sources: Le Soir, BRUZZ (5 March 2026).

Second reading — 5 June 2026: The Brussels government approved the second reading of the first pillar (shared support service). More than a hundred civil servants from different administrations took part in the preparation; the government intends to permanently anchor the new structure by the summer of 2026. Next step: submission to the Brussels Parliament.

Consultancy in the crosshairs

Cutting consultancy fees is one of the savings levers the government is putting forward: up to EUR 67 million a year would be saved on this item by 2029, within a EUR 281 million package of "operational resource optimisation".

The issue is long-documented. According to openbudgets.brussels data relayed by the press, Brussels public services spent at least EUR 107 million on private audit and consulting firms over 2018-2022, of which roughly EUR 50 million for Deloitte alone (ahead of KPMG, EY and PwC). A study by the PTB put the 2019-2024 total at around EUR 470 million.

In June 2026, a press investigation (Le Vif) found that reliance on IT consultancy was continuing — over EUR 300,000 earmarked for 1.5 full-time equivalents over a year in a regional contract — illustrating the difficulty of meeting the announced trajectory. (Press data, single-source, to be corroborated via public tenders.)

Workforce trajectory: 243 staff (1989) to 12,000 (2024)

The Brussels regional administration has experienced continuous growth since the creation of the Region in 1989:

• 1989: 243 staff at the Ministry of the Brussels-Capital Region (MRBC)
• 2015: 8,756 regional civil servants
• 2023: 12,093 civil servants (+37% in 8 years)
• Wage bill (incl. STIB-MIVB): from 1.2 bn EUR (2018) to 1.8 bn EUR (2024), i.e. +50%
• Ratio: 1 regional civil servant per 100 residents (vs 1/280 in Flanders and Wallonia)

This growth is explained by successive transfers of competences (6th Reform of the State, 2014), the dissolution of the Province of Brabant (1993), and the continuous creation of new bodies: visit.brussels, Innoviris, parking.brussels, perspective.brussels, hub.brussels, etc.

Financial context: adverse opinion from the Court of Auditors

The 30th Book of Observations by the Court of Auditors (November 2025) issued an adverse opinion on the Region's 2024 accounts, identifying "significant anomalies with a diffuse impact" across the 21 autonomous administrative bodies. Key figures:

• Actual deficit: 1.65 bn EUR (31.5% of revenues)
• Consolidated gross debt: 15.6 bn EUR (+76.7% over 2020-2024)
• Interest charges: from 91M EUR (2016) to 399M EUR (2024), i.e. x4.4

Documented scepticism

Several experts and institutional actors have expressed reservations about the feasibility of the reform:

• Prof. Marie Goransson (ULB): "Even with all of this, you still don't reach 500 million in savings." She estimates that without layoffs, savings depend on natural attrition — a slow and uncertain process.
• CSC (trade union): questions about the physical consolidation of buildings and transitional protections for staff.
• Voka: "The agreement contains the right ingredients, but questions remain about the budgetary trajectory."

Announced timeline

• 2026: launch of pillars 1 and 2, priority to the perspective + urban.brussels merger
• 2027: start of pillar 3 reforms (infrastructure.brussels)
• 2029: target for regional budgetary balance

perspective.brussels leadership: mandate vacant since the announced merger (June-July 2026)

The Director-General mandate at perspective.brussels (Antoine de Borman) has expired without the Brussels government deciding on its renewal, precisely because of the announced merger with urban.brussels (see Pillar 2 above). On 11 June 2026, a staff gathering voiced concern over this leadership vacancy and the broader uncertainty surrounding the reform. The Secretary of State in charge of the dossier, Audrey Henry, acknowledged the concerns and promised consultations, without announcing a decision.

Why flag this: the mechanism is the same one that led to the abolition of the regional commissioner to Europe post (see dedicated dossier) — institutional simplification makes leadership mandates redundant once two entities merge. But unlike the commissioner-to-Europe case, no abolition decision has been officially announced at this stage: this is a frozen/vacant mandate pending the merger, not a scrapped position. BGM classifies this as "developing," not to be confused with a closed case.

Source: BX1 (11 June 2026). Confidence: official (vacancy noted, staff gathering); unconfirmed (outcome of the merger, final decision on the mandate).

Issues to watch

• Restructuring ordinances: legal framework required for mergers of autonomous public bodies (OIP)
• Merger of perspective + urban.brussels: first concrete test (2026)
• Actiris headcount: integration into "Brussels Employment" — decision pending
• talent.brussels report: annual staffing data (attrition monitoring)
• Court of Auditors: next book of observations (monitoring of achieved savings)
• Trade union reactions: negotiations on transitional protections