The outgoing cabinet is tightening its purse strings and continues to govern at full power. The Spring Memorandum presented on Monday contains billions in additional expenditure, both one-off and annual, for a long list of demands and wishes of the cabinet, from asylum reception to Ukraine to support for the microchip sector.
Yet the financial picture looks sunny. Steven van Weyenberg (D66) called himself “a very satisfied Minister of Finance” during the presentation on Monday morning. This is thanks to some windfalls and an accounting trick. The government is collecting more tax revenue than expected because the economy is doing better. In addition, many ministries did not spend part of their budget, for example because they lack staff.
In recent years, the government always had money left over at the end of the year due to this 'under-exhaustion'.
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Van Weyenberg is now turning this around, by moving several billions that the cabinet will probably not spend to later years in advance. Ultimately, the transferred money will still be spent, but that is up to his successor.
The outgoing minister is actually reaping the benefits. After all, he is creating room in this year's budget to spend extra money elsewhere on “important files that cannot wait.”
Grinding with the formation
The government groups a collection of topics under this heading. The extra money that the cabinet is making available for repairing the earthquake damage in Groningen and the Benefits Scandal will raise few questions about the outgoing role of the cabinet in the four forming parties and in the House of Representatives.
There is considerable conflict between the current team of ministers and their potential successors on many other issues. Rutte IV continues unequivocally with support for Ukraine. That country will receive an additional 1 billion euros in arms support, as Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) announced at the end of last week.
That came as a surprise to the informants, PVV leader Geert Wilders responded to BBB also turned against “ad hoc transfers of billions” and asked for text and explanation from the cabinet.
According to Van Weyenberg, the war “will not be over on December 31, 2024” and the government plans to provide continued support to Ukraine: “That cannot be a surprise to anyone,” said the minister. He finds the Spring Memorandum in general “restrained” in nature: the cabinet only does what is necessary and what is stated in its own coalition agreement.
Decent stack
All in all, that's quite a stack. For example, 1 billion euros will temporarily go to crisis shelter for asylum seekers and Defense will receive an additional 500 million. Municipalities and provinces will now receive an additional 715 million annually, undoing a cutback by the Rutte II cabinet after a decade.
Another choice that could lead to a lot of debate is made in youth care. Despite previous plans, the government does not want to make any cuts next year, but a law is being drawn up to introduce a personal contribution – not without controversy. The bill to make this possible must be completed in August, if the cabinet is still in place then.
The outgoing cabinet is further withdrawing money from the National Growth Fund in an attempt to prevent the Netherlands from becoming unattractive to companies such as ASML, the previously announced 'Beethoven project'. Van Weyenberg also defends this in the Spring Memorandum as an urgent theme.
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You can turn back
The outgoing cabinet's own choices can also be seen elsewhere. For example, the cabinet had to look for additional income after the Senate blocked both the abolition of the netting scheme for solar panels and the abolition of a tax exemption for heavy industry.
The government is now solving this with a series of tax measures, so that more Dutch people will pay the highest tax rate, large users will pay more energy tax and SMEs will receive a smaller exemption. These are all measures that will not go down well with PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB: the four forming parties.
If the parties want it, they can do it differently, Van Weyenberg said on Monday morning. His task is simple: he wants to deliver a balanced budget as long as he is Minister of Finance. It is up to the four parties, if they form a cabinet, to reverse his plans. But then they can look for other ways to finance their plans.
One alternative source of income may soon present itself. The Spring Memorandum could be dated within a day if the Senate votes against an additional increase in the minimum wage on Tuesday. If that increase, which has already been included in the Spring Memorandum, is cancelled, almost 1 billion euros will remain in the treasury every year.
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