"Monster alliance" talks with coalition
Negotiations on budget cuts are sluggish
Photo: DUB
The cabinet has been negotiating with the so-called "monster alliance", comprised of opposition parties D66, CDA, JA21, ChristenUnie and SGP. The topic: the 2 billion euros the cabinet aims to take away from education and research. The opposition wants these plans to be scrapped, but the cabinet is not willing to go that far. This is a difficult negotiation, according to national newspapers De Volkskrant and NRC.
The opposition would like to reverse 1.3 billion euros from these cuts, but the cabinet is only willing to make a U-turn regarding 363 million euros, an offer that the opposition rejected.
Threat
The five opposition parties are threatening to vote against the budget in the Senate, where the cabinet does not have a majority. If they do so, the old budget will remain intact - without any cuts.
RTL Nieuws managed to obtain an internal document in which civil servants answered several questions about the budget. Many of the questions referred to problems related to the fine the cabinet wants to impose on students who take longer than one additional year to graduate, which would affect vulnerable students more than other groups and demand too many exceptions. The civil servants also question measures like "reducing the number of international students", which are highly uncertain.
Vote
The House of Representatives will vote on all budgets this Thursday, including the budget for education, culture and science. This budget does not only include cuts in higher education and research but also the rest of education and social services.
The cabinet may come up with a promise like the VAT increase on culture and books, which is still in the budget. The Minister of Finance has promised to find an alternative to this but the opposition will probably not accept it this time.
Blame issue
Who is to blame for this political situation? Some find it strange that the Minister of Education, Eppo Bruins, did not participate in the talks with opposition parties. He keeps saying that he is bound hand and foot to the cutbacks in the main agreement. Other members of the coalition parties keep repeating the same thing, refusing to reflect on the political problem at large.