Motion rejected
Senate approves additional budget cuts
Photo: HOP
In mid-October, opposition parties in the Senate expressed their concern about the ‘irreversible damage’ caused by cuts to education and science. Together with GroenLinks-PvdA, SP and Partij voor de Dieren, D66 submitted a motion to scrap the new cuts from the Spring Memorandum, but it failed to gain a majority on Tuesday.
The supplementary budget for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for 2025 was then adopted by the Senate. Only GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, Volt and the SP voted against it.
For the ChristenUnie, the abolition of the educational opportunities scheme was the main objection to the OCW budget. ‘We could not have agreed to that,’ says Senator Talsma. ‘But now that the cabinet has made proposals to scrap this cut, we are still voting in favour of the bill.’
Devilish dilemma
Partij voor de Dieren, co-sponsor of the rejected motion, also voted in favour of the supplementary budget. Senator Visseren spoke of a ‘devilish dilemma’. The budget also includes the Kostić amendment, which gradually phases out subsidies for monkey testing. ‘Unlike a monkey that dies during an animal test, the education cuts are not irreversible,’ she explained.
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