Cuts to education after all? It could happen, according to secret coalition plan

There may be a secret agreement between the coalition parties: if there are not enough cuts to Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education could face a cut of up to 1.2 billion euros. Whether it actually comes to that remains to be seen.

The coalition’s original plan was as follows: the minister of Social Affairs would make major cuts to social security, while the Ministry of Education would receive up to 1.5 billion euros extra. Now NOS reports that the roles may be reversed.

The reason? The government has scrapped the cuts to social security. That costs a lot of money, which has to come from somewhere. The minister of Social Affairs will now meet with the trade unions after all to discuss reforms to social security. But if that does not raise enough money, the bill could be handed to the Ministry of Education.

The coalition parties agreed this behind closed doors, according to NOS. A journalist from De Telegraaf confirmed it last night on RTL, during Renze Klamer’s talk show. D66 parliamentary party leader Jan Paternotte, who was there, did not deny the agreement. He did promise to do everything he could to avoid cuts to education.

Extra money to account for inflation

The ‘secret’ cut would be made through the so-called price adjustment: the extra money ministries receive each year to account for inflation. If the government does not provide it, that effectively amounts to a cut.

It was already announced yesterday that this coalition’s extra investment in vocational education, universities of applied sciences and research universities would not keep pace with inflation. That amounts to cuts of several tens of millions of euros. The secret deal concerns the inflation adjustment for the entire Ministry of Education budget. That would mean cuts of more than a billion euros from 2031, NOS reports.

Put on the spot

The deal puts D66 under greater pressure: the party likes to present itself as an advocate for education. But the trade unions and opposition party PRO are also being put on the spot: if the talks on social security reforms yield nothing, they will be held partly responsible for cuts to education.

But the 1.2 billion euro cut is far from certain. Several parties are negotiating over it, and a decision on the price adjustment will not be made until the spring. Nobody knows what the political and economic situation will look like then.