{"id":151223,"date":"2023-03-01T16:34:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T15:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=151223"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:40","slug":"municipality-of-rotterdam-goes-against-advice-and-excludes-students-from-energy-allowance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/03\/01\/municipality-of-rotterdam-goes-against-advice-and-excludes-students-from-energy-allowance\/","title":{"rendered":"Municipality of Rotterdam goes against advice and excludes students from energy allowance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The municipality of Rotterdam is standing by its decision: students will not receive the energy allowance. The more than 700 objections from students will be declared unfounded. With this decision, the municipality is going against the advice of its own objections committee.<\/p>\n

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Rotterdam will adhere to the advice of minister for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions Carola Schouten, wrote alderman Enes Yi\u011fit in a letter<\/a> to the municipal council. The minister advises municipalities to exclude students from the allowance, as their housing situations vary considerably. Many students therefore would not be entitled to receive the energy allowance.<\/p>\n

In addition, according to Yi\u011fit, the municipality does not receive enough money from the government to grant students the energy allowance. If the 20,000 students living away from home were to receive the allowance, it would cost the municipality some 26 million euros. \u201cThe board cannot afford to pay even part of these costs\u201d, Yi\u011fit wrote.<\/p>\n

Against advice<\/h2>

The alderman\u2019s decision goes against the advice<\/a> of the General Objections Committee (Algemene Bezwaarschriftencommissie<\/em>, known in Dutch as the ABC). Last November, the ABC recommended that the objections of the students in Rotterdam should be declared founded.<\/p>\n

In that recommendation, the ABC referred to the ruling issued by the District Court of Gelderland last year. The court ruled that a student who had lodged an objection was entitled to receive the energy allowance. Recently, a student in Amsterdam also won<\/a> a lawsuit on the allowance.<\/p>\n

The alderman does not rule out the possibility that a student in Rotterdam may win a similar lawsuit as well. This would give the municipality \u2018stronger grounds\u2019 to ask the government for more money, he wrote.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFemke Legu\u00e9<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Hope<\/h2>

The judges\u2019 rulings give Law and Business Administration student Rogier Fransen (21) hope. He lodged an objection with the municipality of Rotterdam in August of last year, and it was rejected this month. Now, he is working on writing a letter of objection, which he will share with other students through his website<\/a>. \u201cI think we have a really good chance\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

GroenLinks councillor and Law student Mina Morko\u00e7 agrees. In Rotterdam\u2019s municipal council, she has spent the past year arguing for students to receive the energy allowance. \u201cI expect that students will be vindicated in court, as has happened in Amsterdam and Nijmegen\u201d, she says. \u201cStudents are being wrongly excluded. The court says so, and the ABC says so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lobbying<\/h2>

Morko\u00e7 understands the municipality\u2019s financial considerations, but sees a bigger responsibility. \u201cThe municipality needs more reason to be able to ask the government for money, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a good argument for excluding students\u201d, she says. \u201cNow the problem is being passed on to them.\u201d She would therefore like to see the municipality take money from its reserves and increasingly lobby the national government for more funding.<\/p>\n

For now, the municipality is referring students with financial problems to apply for individual special assistance. This entails calculating how much money a student is entitled to based on their personal circumstances. The municipality bases its calculation on the assumption that all students earn at least 932.97 euros, which is the maximum loan amount. As a result, few students qualify for assistance. Until now, 30 students have registered for the assistance, says a spokesperson of the municipality.<\/p>\n

Waiting for the court<\/h2>

Student Roger will have to wait several more months before the court issues its ruling. He finds it \u2018frustrating and disappointing\u2019 that the entire process is taking so long. \u201cI understand that the municipality needs money\u201d, he says. \u201cBut at the same time, I think: if you see that the policy isn\u2019t holding up in Nijmegen and Amsterdam, just admit that it doesn\u2019t work. Now the municipality is waiting for the court\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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