{"id":67115,"date":"2017-02-22T15:37:20","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T14:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/2017\/02\/22\/studenten-mild-kamerleden-tijdens-rsc-debat\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:39","slug":"studenten-mild-kamerleden-tijdens-rsc-debat-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/02\/22\/studenten-mild-kamerleden-tijdens-rsc-debat-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Students let Members of Parliament off lightly during the RSC debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cLots of students know little about politics and the difference between the parties,\u201d was a conclusion drawn by the Rotterdam Student Corps. Consequently, it invited Members of Parliament from respectively the VVD (Pieter Duisenberg), CDA (Stijn Steenbakkers), D66 (Salima Belhaj) and GroenLinks (Suzanne Kr\u00f6ger) to come and debate some of today\u2019s current issues. However, the students posed very few critical questions.<\/p>\n

Under the chairmanship of Professor Wiep van Bunge, the representatives presented their cases from the wobbly stage of the cosy members\u2019 club. Dressed in student-like attire, the audience of about 150 looked on.<\/p>\n

Sneer<\/h3>

Duisenberg, from the VVD, explained that he wanted to lower the rate of tax charged on company profits, which seemed to please the economic students in particular. However, the debate only became really interesting after a question about tax avoidance was raised. Steenbakkers, from the CDA, took this as an opportunity to sneer at Duisenberg: \u201cVVD State Secretary Eric Wiebes is in a dreadful mess with the tax authorities. We must tackle tax avoidance.\u201d Duisenberg\u2019s reaction was evasive but apt: \u201cWiebes is an excellent chap and a valuable member of the VVD, it\u2019s just a pity he\u2019s from Amsterdam,\u201d said the EUR alumnus, giving a wink.<\/p>\n

The issue of \u2018coal-fired power stations\u2019 might have been written for Kr\u00f6ger, the GroenLinks representative. According to her party and D66, the power stations should be closed as quickly as possible. \u201cDo you really want to see the Netherlands as a global frontrunner in environmental issues, or are you simply keen to have a completely different environmental policy?\u201d wondered one of the few critical students. Kr\u00f6ger responded by citing Denmark as an example, and explaining that she thought the Netherlands could also play a leading role.<\/p>\n

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Scoring points<\/h3>

The abolition of the basic student grant was the subject closest to the students\u2019 hearts. Here CDA scored points, as it wants to reintroduce the scheme. \u201cThe fact that increasingly fewer students are living away from home since the grants were abolished is bad news,\u201d according to Steenbakkers.<\/p>\n

D66 and VVD are unenthusiastic about the basic student grant and would rather invest in education. In response to a question about specific improvements, their response was \u2018more lecturers, less crowded lecture theatres and better equipment\u2019. The VVD believes that Erasmus University should combine its strengths with those of Delft and Leiden so they measure up to international competitors (something which, to a degree, is already happening in the LDE-project<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Pauluskerk (St Paul\u2019s Church)<\/h3>

To conclude the debate, Van Bunge raised the subject of the \u2018migration crisis\u2019. While the VVD and the CDA emphasised that they wanted to deport any asylum seekers who had exhausted all their appeals as quickly as possible, both D66 and GroenLinks accepted the possibility of keeping refugees for longer. According to Belhaj, at least three hundred asylum seekers who have exhausted all appeals are wandering around Rotterdam. \u201cWe welcome them to the Pauluskerk and we talk to them; we try to help them find a way of eventually going back to where they came from,\u201d concluded the former member of Rotterdam\u2019s municipal council.<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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