2014-01-10 – The Brussels Regional Parliament voted this morning a bill creating a Zone for Economic Urban Stimulation (ZEUS) sponsored by the Minister Regional for the Economy and Employment. The associated measures will take effect once the implementing decrees have been published in April.
Modelled on ‘free zones’, ZEUS offers new funding directly linked to employment in the selected districts of seven municipalities by the Canal: Anderlecht, Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek, Saint-Gilles, Saint-Josse and Schaerbeek. ZEUS aims to inject new life into disadvantaged districts with high levels of unemployment by offering financial encouragement to businesses that move in or are already based there and that take on local workers.
To this end, ZEUS includesthree financial stimuli:
The Regional Minister for the Economy and Employment is delighted that the bill has been approved: “Our goal was to develop at regional level an extra stimulus in addition to the federal free zones project. In this way, we can take account of the specific characteristics of the economic fabric in Brussels, which has a high proportion of micro-enterprises and SMEs in the non-manufacturing industrial sector, and promote job creation in Brussels.”