The Belgian government on Monday reached an agreement on its budget for next year after months of tense negotiations, broadcaster VRT reported, citing Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
De Wever earlier this month set a Christmas deadline for his bickering five-party coalition to reach a deal, after they continued to disagree on how to repair government finances.
An agreement was reached during marathon talks that started on Sunday morning and went until early on Monday.
The deal will not avert a three-day national strike against earlier announced reforms to the pension system, starting on Monday.
Belgium preps for three days of national strikes
Belgium faces closed schools and disrupted train and air travel as unions call for three days of strikes starting Monday to protest the government's proposed spending cuts and labour law changes.
Brussels airport last week scrapped all departing flights on Wednesday as its security and handling staff will participate in the strike.
The strikes are taking place in three waves. Trains and public transport begin striking on Monday, with the national railroad company SNCB expecting to run two out of three trains, or just one out of three on some lines. Several Eurostars linking Brussels to Paris have been cancelled.
On Tuesday, public services such as schools, creches, and hospitals join the strike.
For Wednesday, unions have called for a full general strike covering all categories.
No flights are expected on Wednesday at the country's two main airports, Bruxelles-Zaventem and Charleroi.
'Contempt'
The strike was called by the main Belgian unions, who are in a stand-off with De Wever over his efforts to shrink the country's debt, one of the highest in Europe, along with Greece, Italy and France.
In power since February, the Flemish conservative is trying to impose a major austerity effort through a series of unprecedented structural reforms concerning labour market liberalisation, unemployment benefits, and pensions.
But only a small number of the measures proposed by De Wever have been implemented so far, largely because of divisions within his five-party coalition.
He has given his coalition until Christmas to come to an agreement, also on his request for spending cuts to cover an increase in the military budget.
The strike is intended to put pressure on the parties as they negotiate between themselves.
This is "an appeal to Prime Minister De Wever and the entire government to put an end to the dismantling of social programs," the unions stated in a press release.
The socialist union FGTB accused the prime minister of showing "contempt" and "disrespect" towards this social movement.
De Wever's entourage declined requests to comment.
Earlier union efforts have had mixed results.
Some tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Brussels in mid-October to protest what they called "brutal" budget cuts.
