The Netherlands: Divided over half an egg

In true Dutch no-nonsense style the reaction to the crisis seems to be: Een half ei is beter dan een lege dop, or “half an egg is better than an empty shell”. Indeed, compared to other European economies the Netherlands is admired for its fiscal discipline and envied for its generous welfare state. But elections early on in June have left the country divided, both in terms of who will rule the country and of what the solution to the budget deficit is. After several decades of left wing rule (under either the Christian Democrats or Labour), the liberal VVD party ousted the centre-left party 31 to 30, the far right Freedom Party taking a close third with 24 of the available 150 seats in parliament. What form the coalition government will take is topic of debate as the labour and liberals are divided over economic reform. The best Holland can hope for is 10 billion euros of budget cuts, anywhere between 1 to 10 billion euros in social benefit cuts, 2 billion euros in health care cuts and raising the retirement age by one or two years from 65. Whether this will be enough to ensure that the 16.6 million people living in the eurozone’s fifth largest economy will carry on receiving free child care, generous jobless benefits and the guarantee of a pension equal to 70% of the minimum wage to all over-65s remains to be seen. Should this not be the case, will civil society still be there to pick up the pieces of the welfare state?

Voices from the field:

According to Rutger van den Dool, spokesperson for Dutch NGO XminusY Solidarity Fund, civil society has already started feeling the blow of the economic crisis and jobs in the non profit sector are in short supply. The worst outcome of the crisis, however, may be the sector loosing its mettle in the public debate. Read the full interview here