Anadolu Ajansı reported that Belgium’s Court of Audit put the abandoned i-Police program’s cost at €139.4 million ($155 million), nearly double the previously disclosed amount, as Belgium’s deficit and debt exceed European Union limits.
Anadolu Ajansı’s Oct. 29 report relied on Belgian public broadcaster VRT’s account of the audit. Interior Minister Bernard Quintin had told parliament the project cost €75.8 million. Taxpayers bear the cost of the failed digitization effort, Anadolu Ajansı reported.
The review put license spending at about €30.8 million. It found that €21.6 million, or 70% of that amount, is no longer useful to police. Police never used licenses worth about €7.3 million, the review said. A further €14.2 million went to licenses used in development, but those licenses lost their use when the project was discontinued. The audit also warned that recurring maintenance, support and renewal fees could keep adding to the bill beyond the initial license purchases.
The initiative, begun in late 2021, sought to consolidate police databases and give law enforcement agencies a single platform for spotting criminal networks and security risks. The project was also designed to give law enforcement agencies a way to identify criminal networks and security risks. In Dec. 2025, Quintin ended the €299 million agreement with French IT consultancy Sopra Steria, saying years of work and payments had yielded no tangible results. The review also cited project management shortcomings and dependence on external IT consultants.
Eurostat reported Oct. 21 that Belgium’s 2025 budget deficit reached 5.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), while public debt stood at 108.1% of GDP at year-end. The European Union’s fiscal reference limits are a deficit of 3% of GDP and debt of 60% of GDP. Both figures exceed those limits. Belgium remains under the bloc’s Excessive Deficit Procedure, which requires corrective action when a member state breaches the thresholds. With debt at 108.1% of GDP, Belgium is among the EU’s most indebted member states, according to Eurostat.
