Last year, more than 9,500 companies went bankrupt, an 11% rise on the year before. In times of crisis, even the best-run companies can be faced with the prospect of collapse. The consequences are grave: not only do bankrupt business owners lose their livelihood, savings and property, but the label of bankruptcy tends to close all doors. Not only is credit hard to raise in future, but some who’ve declared bankruptcy find it impossible to even open a bank account.

The trouble with such a tough approach, according to businesses, is that it crushes enterprise and innovation by making a person pay for mistakes even after their debts have been cleared – and even if the bankruptcy was not the fault of the owner (such as when a shop goes out of business as a result of lengthy road works).

In addition, the typical “one strike and you’re out” approach robs the business culture from people who often have years of valuable experience and whose experience of going through the toughest of times make them an asset to the world of business, rather than a liability.

One of the measures proposed by the government is to change the law that makes any institution that lends to a bankrupt partly liable for the debts of the old business. Except in the case of discharged bankruptcy this potential burden makes credit for new postbankruptcy enterprise impossible.

A second measure would provide improved help for “second-chance” businesses, using partners such as the Brussels Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Flemish agency Tussenstap, which advise those who are already bankrupt or on their way to becoming so. Tussenstap currently receives about 100 requests a month for help, two-thirds of them from businesses on the way down. The organisation offers an analysis of management strengths and weaknesses, as well as counselling once the new business is under way, to ensure old mistakes are not repeated.

Both Tussenstap and Unizo, the organisation for the self-employed, support the government’s plans, but warn that changes to the law will only be effective if the banks can be persuaded to relax their current extremely cautious approach towards bankruptcies.

• Only 3.3% of Flemings are currently busy setting up a business or have done so in the last 3.5 years, according to a survey carried out by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. That compares with 3.5% in Belgium as a whole, an EU average of 5.8% and figures as high as 8.8% in Greece and 8.5% in Norway. “We have to work harder to create an enterprise culture in Flanders,” said minister-president Kris Peeters, who was once head of Unizo.