Since last week, the coalition has been negotiating with a ‘monster alliance’ between the opposition parties D66, CDA, JA21, ChristenUnie and SGP over the 2 billion euros in proposed cuts. According to reporting by de Volkskrant and NRC, these talks haven’t been very productive.
Determined to prevent 1.3 billion euros of the proposed cuts, the opposition has rejected the government’s counteroffer of 363 million euros.
Threat
The five opposition parties are threatening to vote against the education ministry’s budget in the Senate, where the government does not have a majority. This would leave the old budget in place – without the cuts.
RTL Nieuws claims to have an internal document in which officials answer all kinds of questions about the budget. They point to problems around the slow-progress penalty, which will particularly affect vulnerable students. Moreover, it would be difficult to make exceptions. Officials also question cuts such as ‘fewer international students’, which are highly uncertain. Incidentally, these problems have been known for a long time.
Vote
On Thursday, the House of Representatives will vote on all budgets, including the education budget. The latter not only includes cuts to higher education and research, but also to the rest of the education sector and the community service time programme.
Perhaps the government will come up with a promise similar to the VAT increase on cultural activities and books, which is still in the budget, although the finance minister has promised to find an alternative. But the opposition is unlikely to accept such a proposal this time around.
Blame game
Meanwhile, the blame game is in full swing: who has allowed this political situation to arise? Some find it strange that Education Minister Eppo Bruins didn’t talk to the opposition earlier. Bruins maintains that he’s bound hand and foot by the cuts in the outline coalition agreement.
But the coalition parties seem to be of the same opinion. This is simply what we agreed on, they continue to say, seemingly ignoring the political problem at hand. So the ball is back in the minister’s court.
