Prinsjesdag

Every year, on the third Tuesday of September, it is ‘Prinsjesdag’ (Little Princes Day). There are a few important happenings on this day. One of these is the monarch’s speech (‘De Troonrede’, in Dutch). This is a speech done by the king (or queen) in which is told about the coalition agreement. The coalition agreement describes how certain issues will be taken care of by the cabinet in the upcoming year, for example: what will be done against crime? The speech takes place in the ‘Ridderzaal’, in The Hague.

Another happening is the presentation of the ‘miljoenennota’, by the Minister of Finance. This document tells about the plans of the government and the amount of money used for each plan. The ‘miljoenennota’ describes the most important parts of the National Budget.

Then the Second Chamber debates about this budget in a special debate, called the General Debate. Of course the different parties will look critically to the budget, having their own priorities in mind. They discuss with each other, and vote on the proposals.

The role of the king is actually mainly traditionally. He will drive towards the ‘Ridderzaal’ with ‘De Gouden Koets’ (The Golden Coach). There he will do the famous speech. This is always on almost every channel on the news at that moment in the Netherlands. It’s an important Dutch ceremony.

The ‘miljoenennota’ is an explanation by the government about all expected expenses in the National Budget for the upcoming year. The Minister of Finance presents it, and hands it over to the Prime Minister (from the Second Chamber). The ‘miljoenennota’ is there to, as I said before, explain the expenses for upcoming year, but also to tell about the influence this has for people and businesses. It also describes the financial situation of the Netherlands at that moment and the expectance for the upcoming year. This means that there is also explained how a deficit, if it’s there (and that usually is the case), will be solved.

A few of the plans told about in the ‘miljoenennota’ are:

• Payrollemployers will get equal employment rights; before, payrollemployers (temporary workers, who got work through a company which sends out payrollemployers to businesses) had different rights than the employers who were directly hired by the company. Now the rule ‘same work, same salary’ counts.
• Foreign employers should be treated the same as national employers; the government wants to fight illegal workers who don’t pay taxes over their salary and make sure that employers earn the same salary on different locations if they do the same work.
• Policy for jihadists; to prevent jihadism the government will introduce effort towards education, families and towns to inform people better.
• Fight unemployment amongst youth; the cabinet will focus on unemployed youth in neighbourhoods. At the moment this happens in some cities. There is special attention for migrant youth. The aim is to take care of better preparation through education for the employment market, and to help migrant youth to get a job quicker.
• Help people with debts and prevent it; the cabinet has planned to spend €100 million a year to fight debts and poverty. This will mainly go to towns themselves, so that people who have come into problems can be helped, and another aim is to prevent debts. There is special attention for children: there are packets for children, which contain for example discounts for swimming lessons, or clothes.

I want to react on two of the plans named above, and to be exact, I want to react on the last two plans.

To start with the plan to fight unemployment amongst youth. I think this is really necessary, so this seems to be a good plan. I often hear around me stories from people who have finished their complete education for a job and are seriously exited and motivated to start with that job… but then it turns out that there is actually a lack of jobs which forces them to search another job which is probably not what they wanted or it is for a low salary, or lower than they are educated for. This is how dreams can fall apart. What is the big problem in the example I named? The student probably wasn’t informed well about how much chance there was to get a job for him. As I read, this is one of the ways the government will fight unemployment amongst youth. Also they have a solution for ‘weak youth’: youth without a starting diploma or with an income supplement. But I can’t really find how they will help migrant youth with a diploma, who don’t fit into the employment market because of other reasons (not used to the Dutch culture, different type of education, doesn’t speak the language). So I doubt if there’s thought about that.

Now my reaction to the plan to help people with debts and prevent it. I think this idea is really good, because everywhere you can find stories of people who have a lack of money (or at least a lot less money as earlier) because of the crisis. It is smart to give the money to the towns, because they can judge better and easier in what kind of situation someone is. Especially the attention for the position of children is really important. Parents often want their children to have everything they need. But this becomes difficult when you have serious debts. This causes big differences between children. Perhaps two friends in the same class might totally have a different life, because one of them has a life without worries and gets everything needed, while the other one is aware of the fact that she won’t get the same things because her parents can’t afford it. I think children should all be treated equal, and get equal chances so this might help parents in their struggle.

So good plans are made, but maybe should be thought out a little more still.

Little Princes Day

Little Princes Day is on the third Tuesday in September. On this day the plans of the cabinet for the upcoming year are presented in the monarch’s speech and the budget is presented by the Minister of Finance.

The day starts with a parade of all the Dutch royals riding in carriages to the Ridderzaal. Among these royals are king Willem Alexander and queen Máxima in the Golden Carriage. This is a very known image of Little Princes Day among the Dutch.

Later this day the king starts the monarch’s speech in the Ridderzaal in a special joint meeting of the States General. In the monarch’s speech the plans for the upcoming year are made publicly. In this special joint meeting the First and Second Chamber come together; the chairman of this meeting is the president of the First Chamber. This only happens on Little Princes Day or in the case of a special event, such as the appointment of a new king, queen or regent.

Then the Minister of Finance presents the financial plans for the next year: the Budget, which is in the well-known suitcase. This all happens in the Second Chamber. In the Budget are all of the proposals for the expenses, obligations and income of the federal government. Simply said, the Budget is a summary of what the most important plans and choices of the government are and how much money the state is going to spend on those plans.

This year the most striking plans of the cabinet are:

• 83 million Euros extra is being spend on the shelter for asylum seekers.
• 210 million Euros extra is being spend on the people in nursing homes.
• 290 million Euros is spend on a higher childcare adjudication.
• Employers get a higher discount on the wages of personnel with a low income.
• The defence force gets 220 million Euros extra.
• The exemption in the grant tax for children of 17 to 40 years is being expanded. Everybody can grant till 100,000 Euros now.
• The MBO and the primary and secondary school are getting 25 million Euros less in total. The WO gets 27 million Euros less. The HBO gets 27 million Euros more.
• VMBO gets new profiles to make it easier for them to find a job.
• The income on the gas extraction in Groningen is going down; they will extract less gas to prevent more earthquakes from occurring.
• The royal family gets a total higher income of 84,000 Euros.
• The majority of the Dutch people will get an increase of their buying power. Only the people on social security and the elderly people will not get an increase.

After the announcement of the budget, the General Debate takes place, which is a debate of the Second Chamber about the Budget; the parties vote on the proposals mentioned in the Budget. In this debate they discuss what the consequences of the plans will be for Dutch society and whether the plans will be executed or not.

To me the plan to give employers a higher discount on the wages of personnel with a low income, sounds like a good idea. In this way the employees will hire this kind of personnel more, so for these people there is a higher chance of finding a job. This is encouraged even more because the income gap between the people on social security and the people who do work will get bigger. So when they get a job, they experience an enormous growth of their buying power. In this way they can spend more and the economy will grow.

Another plan that I thought was very good is to spend more money on a higher childcare adjunction. In this way parents will bring their child to childcare more often so they are able to work more hours. They will probably earn more money this way and cause the economy to grow.

The conclusion is that the economy is growing, but there is still room for improvement. We have to keep making rational choices!

Prince’s Day

This Prince’s Day, on the 17^th of September, the King read the monarch’s speech in the ‘Ridderzaal’ to the people of the Netherlands. The speech started really positive and told us that we exceeded the two percent growth forecast for the first in a long time. This is of course great news, but we shouldn’t get overconfident now, because there is still a lot of work to be done. Before we get into the plans we are first going to take a look into what Prince’s Day is exactly all about.

‘Prince’s Day’ was first held on the 2th of May 1814. Since 1938 they changed the date of ‘Prince’s Day’ to the third Thursday of September in the Constitution. On this day the King or Queen reads the monarch’s speech in the ‘Ridderzaal’ in front of the States General. The States General is the First and Second Chamber joined. The States General listens to the monarch’s speech which states what the plans of the government are for the upcoming year.

After the monarch’s speech, at 15:15, the Minister of Finance hands the Second Chamber the briefcase containing the budget and the State budget. The budget states: what their main plans are, wat they are going to cost, what effect the plans have, how the finances are, if there is a shortage and how the Dutch economy is doing. The budget also tells us where the money for these future plans will come from.

There a lot of plans in the budget. Here is a short impression of them:

• The Cabinet lowers the taxation on labour by five billion euros, but the minimum wage will lower.
• There will be 83 million euros for the shelter of asylum seekers.
• There will be 210 million euros extra for people in nursing homes.
• 290 million euros will be made available for childcare facilities. Families who earn an average of 50000 euros will get 108 euros per month extra.
• Armed forces will get 220 million euros.
• In 2017 there must be at least 30% of representation female in the (top) positions in the national government.
• There will be less money for education.
• The Cabinet will lower the rent allowance in 2017, so that the purchasing power of pensioners and benefit recipient’s won´t decrease.

I think it´s too much to give 290 million euros to childcare facilities. This money can better be spend on education, because out of all things there are, they chose education to cut costs on. Childcare facilities will only be beneficial on a short term notice, because the parents then can work and earn money instead of watching their children. Putting money in education will benefit in the future, because more people will have a good education, so a good job and earn a decent salary. They already stopped the student’s grant, so why save more money on education?

The Cabinet will lower the taxation on labour with five billion euros and in 2017 decrease the purchasing power of those in need. Not really logical to me. So they will give more money to the rich and eventually less to those in need. I think that it´s good to give a lower taxation on labour, but not this much. Instead they should spend some of that money to create jobs, so more people without work can get an opportunity to get a job. This way the number of unemployment will decrease, because that is still too high.

As I said before the economy has grown, but we shouldn’t get overconfident and always work hard to improve it even more.

 

Little princes Day

Little Princes Day

Little Princes Day is on every third Tuesday in September. It is a very important day for the Dutch politics. The king Willem-Alexander drives with the golden chaise to the Ridderzaal in Den Haag. Our king will explain the most important ideas from the Government for the upcoming year. Little Princes Day is a day that has many traditions like; the Golden carriage, the Monarch’s speech, the suitcase and the hats from the ladies.

King Willem-Alexander will explain the Monarch’s speech on behalf of the Government in the Ridderzaal. The members of the Royal House, the Cabinet and other invited guests will be present in the Ridderzaal. The Monarch’s speech will explain how the Dutch economy is doing at the moment. And what the future plans are. After the Monarch’s speech, it is a tradition to cheer to King Willem-Alexander with the words: “Leve de Koning. Hoera. Hoera. Hoera.”  The Minister of Finance (Jeroen Dijsselbloem) offers his famous case to the members of The Second Chamber. The budget and the State budget are in this famous case.

The budget is an explanation of the financial situation of our country. So the plans of the government and the amount of money that is available. The budget is also about the national and international economic situation. So the expected income and planned expenditure of the Government. The income will consist of tax and contributions. The expenditure will consist of education, healthcare and safety. The national budget is based on a number of assumptions, for instance, the expected economic growth and the developments in the employment market. If these turn out to be different from what was assumed, the plans have to be adjusted.

Here is a short impression of the plans of the cabinet for the upcoming year.

• There will be working 100.000 people more than previous year.
• There will be more extra money to fight against terrorism.
• The Cabinet wants to use the Dutch Presidency to focus on the problems of the climate.
• There will be 3 million Euro available to tackle drug crime.
• There will be less money available for education.

The plan about that there will be more extra money available to fight against terrorism is in my opinion very important. Because I know for sure that there will be more terrorism in the future because of IS. So people will feel a little bit safer when they hear that the fight against terrorism will be improved.

Another plan that attracts me is about that the Cabinet will be focusing on the problems of the climate. We really need to do something to improve the climate, otherwise we will be too late. The climate will be very important in the future. When we won’t do anything, we will have a lot of problems. And maybe it will be problems that we can never solve anymore.

Hungary sends back refugees to Serbia

The Hungarian government has decided to close the borders. Refugees who haven’t made an application for asylum in Serbia, are sent back. This is because Serbia is a safe country so refugees shouldn’t have to go all the way to West-Europe if they are able to stay in Serbia. These measurements are taken because they just follow the international rules, according to the Hungarian government. Serbia, on the other hand, doesn’t accept that Hungary sends the refugees back; quoting the Serbian Minister of Migration:

“They aren’t our problem anymore.”

Beside that, Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, said that the majority of the applications for asylum, from the refugees who are not sent back, will be refused. Also anyone who illegally enters Hungary, will receive a punishment of 3 years in prison. Anyone who tries to make a hole in the fence that’s been placed around the borders of Hungary, will receive a punishment of 5 years in prison.

Organisations standing for the rights of asylum seekers are angry with the Hungarian government. The rest of Europe hasn’t given any reaction to the measurements taken by Hungary yet, which were entered at 10PM on Monday (midnight in Hungary). Looking at the situation, Hungary is doing  nothing wrong according to the rules. People are waiting for a reaction from the United Nations. But until now, the UN hasn’t spoken about clear rules and measurements for the refugees yet at all. Just keep in mind when observing this situation: one of the main aims of the UN is to cooperate in solving international problems and in promoting respect for human rights. Also don’t forget that Hungary is a member of the UN. In fact, there is not a second thought about the human rights of the refugees. Also this is not the way to solve the problem of the high quantity of incoming refugees.

What is really needed right now, is a decision by the UN. Clear rules should be made, and a plan should be set up which is thought through and fits this situation. Also all countries should apply the same rules, so that countries don’t take measurements for themselves, thereby putting the problem off to others.