Can Wallonia save the jobs created by its zero long-term unemployment experiment?
Wallonia’s TerritoiR’ES experiment has created more than 260 jobs, including supported posts and supervision, but its future remains uncertain because the Walloon and European funding framework expires at the end of 2026.
The programme has reached residents largely excluded from ordinary recruitment, including people who had never previously worked. Its expiry would affect workers, local social-economy employers and community services, while continuation would require Wallonia to justify and finance a long-term public commitment.
’s zero long-term unemployment experiment has now created more than 260 jobs, reported on 26 August, but the contracts and local services behind that result face an unresolved deadline: the Walloon and European funding framework supporting the programme ends on 31 December 2026. The finding brings a regional employment choice into sharp focus for the led by Adrien Dolimont, with Economy Minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet and Social Economy Minister responsible for deciding how employment and social-economy policy should fit together after the pilot.
For people living in , the immediate issue is not an abstract employment-rate target. It is whether jobs created for residents who had spent years outside the labour market can continue, along with services developed around unmet local needs. reports that roughly 10% of beneficiaries had never worked before entering the scheme. That makes the programme unusually relevant to people whom conventional recruitment, training and activation measures have struggled to reach.
The initiative, originally called and now branded , starts from a deliberately different premise. Rather than matching jobseekers only to existing vacancies, local partnerships identify useful work that the ordinary market or public services do not provide, then construct jobs around residents’ abilities. Activities can include reuse and repair, food projects, neighbourhood services, environmental work and help for vulnerable residents, provided they do not displace established businesses.
The numbers require careful reading. In a May 2026 answer to Walloon MP Jean-Paul Bastin, Coppieters said the eleven projects retained after an earlier review had put 206 long-term unemployed people into work by the end of March, representing 187.2 full-time equivalents. Six further recruitments were under way, while supervision accounted for an estimated 45 to 50 full-time-equivalent posts. Those categories explain how the wider employment footprint can exceed 260 without implying that every post went to a long-term unemployed participant.
The programme’s trajectory has already been uneven. initially selected seventeen projects, supported through a €104 million envelope planned for 2022-2026 and financed equally by the region and the EU’s . Following an interim assessment, the ended support for five territories in 2025 and continued eleven. It said the retained projects had demonstrated stronger results and local momentum; an economy-sociale sector report had previously warned that some projects struggled with complex regional and European grant rules.
Two interpretations now compete. Coppieters presents as social innovation capable of returning people once described as “inemployable” to useful, open-ended work. The uses a similarly broad frame: its account of a Liège project argues that communities may face a shortage of paid employment even when socially useful work remains abundant. In this view, the relevant outcome includes restored confidence, social participation and services that would otherwise not exist—not merely rapid movement into a conventional company.
The more demanding view comes from the government’s own decision to close five projects and concentrate resources on eleven. That approach treats demonstrable performance, sound local governance and complementarity with existing economic activity as conditions for continued public support. It also reflects a central question for Jeholet’s employment policy: whether bespoke, subsidised local jobs produce durable additional value compared with training, hiring incentives and direct matching to ’s numerous unfilled vacancies.
The European connection is financial and institutional, not simply symbolic. The ESF+ is paying half of the scheduled envelope, while the Walloon administration, the regional ESF agency, the and local social-economy organisations oversee implementation. Once that programming period ends, EU participation does not automatically continue. A new Walloon legal and budgetary basis, another compatible European funding line, or a redesigned mechanism would therefore be needed to preserve the model.
No publicly confirmed post-2026 settlement has yet answered how many projects, workers or activities would be covered. That silence matters because the scheme relies on open-ended employment contracts even though its subsidy horizon is fixed. The next test is consequently political as much as statistical: must decide whether the results justify moving into ordinary policy, narrowing it further, or letting the experiment expire. Until the government publishes a financing decision and comparable cost-and-outcome data, the programme can demonstrate that it reached people far from employment, but not yet that their jobs have a secure future.
Impact
Regional — The consequences are concentrated in eleven Walloon micro-territories where local organisations have hired participants and developed services around unmet neighbourhood needs.
International — Half of the programme’s planned €104 million envelope comes from the European Social Fund Plus, making its continuation partly an EU-funding question rather than solely a Walloon budget decision. The existing co-financing framework ends on 31 December 2026, and no replacement has been confirmed. The experiment also has a cross-border policy connection because it was inspired by France’s Territoires zéro chômeur de longue durée model. EU policy readers can watch whether Wallonia preserves the approach with regional funding or negotiates support under a successor European framework.
What it means for you
People employed through TerritoiR’ES and the local organisations supervising them should watch Walloon budget and programme decisions before 31 December 2026, when current co-financing ends. Participants should ask their employer or project coordinator what happens to their contract if replacement funding is delayed or refused. Long-term unemployed residents interested in the scheme can contact Forem or a participating local project to check eligibility and recruitment availability. For other Belgian residents, there is no announced direct payment or rule change, but continuation would require a new public-funding commitment after 2026.
Opposing perspectives
- Yves Coppieters and social-economy operators
Coppieters frames TerritoiR’ES as a way to return people once described as “inemployable” to dignified, useful work. Operators emphasise voluntary participation, local knowledge and benefits that standard job-placement statistics may miss, including confidence, social connection and services for residents.
- Walloon government’s performance-based approach
The government’s closure of five projects shows that social purpose alone is not considered sufficient. Continued support depends on measurable results, workable governance and evidence that subsidised activities answer unmet needs without competing unfairly with existing employers.
- European Social Fund Plus framing
The ESF+ presents the experiment as social innovation: useful work may remain undone even where conventional vacancies do not fit the people available. This EU framing gives weight to inclusion and territorial value, rather than judging success only by rapid movement into the mainstream labour market.
Who, where and what
Key people, places and terms in this story
The Belgian region running and co-financing the employment experiment.
The country where the model inspiring TerritoiR’ES originated.
The named source for the figure of 206 long-term unemployed people working in eleven projects at the end of March 2026.
The Belgian public broadcaster reporting that the programme’s wider employment footprint exceeds 260 jobs and that about 10% of beneficiaries had never worked before.
The regional executive responsible for programme and future funding decisions.
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The named source for the figure of 206 long-term unemployed people working in eleven projects at the end of March 2026.
The Belgian region running and co-financing the employment experiment.
The country where the model inspiring TerritoiR’ES originated.
Wallonia’s experimental social-economy programme creating additional jobs for people unemployed for more than two years.
The French employment model that inspired Wallonia’s TerritoiR’ES experiment.
The Belgian public broadcaster reporting that the programme’s wider employment footprint exceeds 260 jobs and that about 10% of beneficiaries had never worked before.
The regional executive responsible for programme and future funding decisions.
The EU fund providing half of the programme’s planned €104 million envelope for 2022-2026.
Wallonia’s public employment service and a point of contact for jobseekers.
The regional parliament where the programme’s assessment and future have been examined.
The regional administration source documenting the launch of the zero long-term unemployment pilot.
The regional information portal documenting TerritoiR’ES as a social-economy inclusion initiative.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceRTBF — Territoires Zéro chômeur en WalloniePrimaryprimary· news.google.com· 26 August 2026Retrieved 26 August 2026· 37 days ago· Dated
- View sourceParliament of Wallonia — Assessment and future of TerritoiR’ESofficial· parlement-wallonie.be· 21 May 2026Retrieved 26 August 2026· 134 days ago· Dated
- View sourceWalloon Government — TerritoiR’ES programme refocusedofficial· wallonie.be· 25 September 2025Retrieved 26 August 2026· 372 days ago· Dated
- View sourceEuropean Social Fund Plus — Liège social concierge projectofficial· european-social-fund-plus.ec.europa.eu· 9 February 2024Retrieved 26 August 2026· 966 days ago· Dated
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This briefing was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by a Belgium Impulse editor before publication. methodology.