As many as 300 people employed by the Flemish public broadcaster VRT – about 11% of its entire workforce – could lose their jobs in a coming round of spending cuts, according to unions in a memo released last week. The management of the VRT is due to present its spending plans to the board of directors on 15 March.

The drive to save money has already shown itself; most programmes have seen resources cut and staff numbers reduced. Just last week, radio station Klara announced it was scrapping the regular Friday evening show Neve, in which Flemish jazz musician Jef Neve presents a live music broadcast, because the format is too expensive.

The VRT receives €302 million from the public purse. The broadcaster’s total costs amounted to over €466m in 2008, with TV the largest expense at €274m. Deducting income from the total leaves a deficit of about €44.5m, on top of deficits carried over from previous years.

Piet Van Roe(pictured), VRT’s caretaker managing director, has promised €16.7m in savings for 2010, but he is expected to go even further in 2011. It is estimated that he will call for savings of at least €65m.

In addition, in order to bring spending sustainably under control, changes are likely to follow to reduce the vast bureaucracy that the VRT, as a state institution, still carries, and to radically alter the outdated working conditions.