The outgoing cabinet has already removed the most criticized plans from the spring memorandum, but the opposition is still dissatisfied with the adjusted budget. A grand alliance is now trying to prevent the planned cuts in education.
Tom van der Lee (GL-PvdA) called the spring memorandum a farce. According to the largest opposition party, the process surrounding the adjusted budget was chaotic, ministers were “reduced to rubber stamps” and major issues were “zealously pushed forward.”
The interim adjustment of the current budget was different this year than usual. There were billions of euros in setbacks and the wish list of the former coalition parties PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB was long.
After a marathon meeting of 25 hours, the former coalition parties signed the spring memorandum, as can be seen in the video below. The House of Representatives debated the adjusted budget on Wednesday.
Coalition happy after 25 hours of consultation on spring memorandum: ‘No sleep’
Spring memorandum has a ‘hair in the soup’
The House not only criticized how the process surrounding the spring memorandum had proceeded, but also the spring memorandum itself. But the outgoing cabinet had already removed the most criticized plans.
Outgoing Minister Mona Keijzer (Housing) withdrew the bill for the rent freeze on the day the cabinet fell. And the increase in rent allowance (the so-called ‘shopping bonus’) was also canceled.
NSC Member of Parliament Folkert Idsinga called the scrapping of these plans “a hair in the soup.” Because as a result, “two major promises to the Netherlands have not been fulfilled.” Although, for example, the rental sector had major question marks about these PVV plans and NSC also said it was critical of them, the party supported them “from the idea of security of existence.”
D66, CDA, CU, SGP and JA21 against education cuts
From the opposition, there was mainly frustration about some of the cuts that are still in the spring memorandum. In particular, the abolition of the education opportunities scheme is a thorn in the side of a number of opposition parties.
At the end of last year, D66, CDA, CU, SGP and JA21 reached a deal with the coalition parties to reverse part of the education cuts that were already in the budget. Subsequently, new cuts in education appeared in the spring memorandum, including those to the education opportunities scheme.
And so the parties have reunited in what has become known (because of the differences between those parties) as a grand alliance. With an amendment, they hope to reverse around 400 million euros in cuts. If the remaining coalition parties do not agree to this, they threaten to reject the budget in the Senate.
The opposition parties still have to work out exactly where this should be paid for.
House also tried to reverse other cuts
Other calls from the House of Representatives to scrap certain cuts from the spring memorandum will not be achieved because the financial substantiation is lacking. Two weeks ago, the House adopted a motion to reverse the cuts in healthcare. On Tuesday, a motion to reverse cuts to municipalities received a majority.
These motions passed partly thanks to the support of the PVV, which left the coalition at the beginning of this month. But the proposers of the motion have not yet found coverage for those billions in cuts.
The outgoing cabinet has also announced that it cannot implement those motions. “All free beer from the parties on the flanks,” said VVD Member of Parliament Aukje de Vries. “Is this how we are going to do it in the near future?”