Minister of Education believed he was keeping the government at bay

'So, tell me: left or right?' says Minister Eppo Bruins in this cartoon from September 2024, titled 'Halbe 2.0'. The caption reads: 'Because numbers are a loose concept.'

Needless to say that the government's austerity plans were met with considerable resistance. As the new minister of education, Eppo Bruins often called those plans 'ugly', but said that they had to go ahead anyway. The only thing he was willing to discuss was where exactly the budget cuts would be made. Such ruthless cuts to the education budget – without any justification – had not been seen in the Netherlands since the days of Halbe Zijlstra, State Secretary in the first Mark Rutte cabinet. The caption is a literal quote from Prime Minister Dick Schoof, albeit on a different subject.

'I am the law!' says Eppo Bruins in this cartoon from April 2025, titled 'Do it anyway'. The caption says: 'Education budget passes in the House Representatives.'

‘I am the law,’ said Marjolein Faber (PVV), Asylum Minister in the recently fallen cabinet. Bruins showed the same stubbornness in dealing with his budget. He refused to discuss whether it was lawful – let alone decent – to simply cancel long-standing agreements made by the previous cabinet regarding a billion-euro investment. When Bruins proved willing to scrap budget cuts to religious education, the Christian parties decided not to vote down his budget after all.

'Sorry, it is beyond our means to make it rain all the time on campuses. You're welcome, Minister Bruins, have a nice day.' This cartoon, 'Bully', was published in April 2025. The caption says: ' Minister opposes cheap student facilities.'

Out of the blue, the ministry announced that it would check whether universities were secretly contributing funds to student facilities, such as sports, culture and canteens. Dutch universities have been doing this since time immemorial, and not at all in secret. Everybody knows that they allocate funds for student facilities, as they consider these to contribute to the study environment and students' well-being. Considering many students can't afford such services in the private market, many viewed the minister's attitude as a form of bullying against students.

'Uh, oh, imagine how that would have gone without me.'  In June 2025, right after the cabinet collapsed, the minister already started looking back on his performance. DUB then published this cartoon, titled 'Protector'. The caption goes: 'Minister looks back.' 

The cabinet did not last long, and Bruins was soon to resign prematurely. Looking back on his time as a minister, he once again proclaimed that the budget cuts were 'ugly', but noted that he had managed to prevent a great deal of harm. However, the kind of harm he was referring to never became entirely clear. Although the worst aspects of the government's austerity plans have been scrapped, such as the fine for students who take longer to graduate, it had nothing to do with Bruins. After all, he presented no counterargument. The measures were only taken out of the policy because they would have been blocked by the Senate otherwise.

The Ministers of Education in cartoons by Niels Bongers
Niels Bongers has been drawing political cartoons for DUB for over forty years. Every time a minister leaves office, he looks back on that minister's performance. It all started with the famous State Secretary Halbe Zijlstra. Check out the farewells of the visionary Robbert Dijkgraaf, the procrastinator Ingrid van Engelshoven, the loan system introducer Jet Bussemaker, and the resentful right-wing Halbe Zijlstra.