VVD announces plans to slash budget

By The Holland Times Fri. 6 July 2012

As political parties finalise their stances in the run up to September’s elections, the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD), headed up by outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte, has declared that it intends to cute 24 billion euro from the Dutch budget if elected to the next cabinet, reports de Volkskrant on Friday.
The proposed cuts are intended to completely remove the Netherlands’ deficit and would see substantial reductions to the budget for social security and social care as well as slashing government spending on other areas by a total of eight billion euro. The composition of basic health care is also to be reassessed with visits to the doctor to fall under the own risk category, meaning that patients would have to pay for themselves despite having basic insurance.
This newly announced policy differs from the much-publicised Spring Agreement hammered out by the VVD and opposition parties in the wake of the cabinet’s collapse this year. Notable differences include the lack of a commuter tax in the new VVD announcement and a different approach to raising the retirement age.

(Photo: Minister-president Rutte)

Comments:

Economics:

Dossiers:

• FINANCIAL CRISIS
• EMPLOYMENT
• BUDGET CUTS
• HOUSING
• SMALL BUSINESS