Links united about housing crisis | Inland

PVV leader Wilders opened the ball, that role is always reserved for the fraction leader of the largest opposition party. He made a point of his own condemnation for the “less, less, less” statement. Wilders argued on the basis of this that people with an unwelcome opinion in the Netherlands are silenced: “Rutte has a big mouth to say about Hungary, but is himself prime minister of an intensely corrupt country.” The other MPs, ‘except for Mr Baudet’, were accused of having dropped him.

Wilders’ tirade drew strong criticism from opposition and coalition parties. CU party leader Segers, in particular, was very confident: “You have all the freedom to say what you want here. You have every right to appeal. In a dictatorship you were not protected by the minister you are now criticizing. ” That was not appreciated by the PVV faction. “How do you get it into your head. Filthy! ”, Deputy group leader Agema called to Segers as he walked back to his place.

Dijkhoff: strong government

After Wilders, it was VVD party leader Dijkhoff’s turn. He began his speech by highlighting the painful consequences of the corona crisis, both for public health and the economy. But the left-wing opposition quickly dragged him into a discussion about the lack of a wage increase for health care and the tax credit for companies that the cabinet wants to introduce.

GL, SP and PvdA had already made a point about this at the start of the debate. The parties immediately asked for the documents associated with that Job-related Investment Discount (BIK). The cabinet wants to introduce this as a contribution to the business community, which saw a line through the signed reduction in profit tax. The plan costs 2 billion euros, but a bill has not yet been proposed. That will come on October 5, said Rutte.

Liberal Dijkhoff said in the remainder of his speech that he was in favor of a ‘strong government’. In addition to ‘fair trade’ and ‘less dependence’, this must become a spearhead of the VVD. Dijkhoff also hinted that he was open to a new nuclear power plant in the Netherlands: “Without nuclear energy, clean electricity in 2050 is not realistic.”

Moria en Akwasi

GL leader Jesse Klaver was third. He began an emotional account of the migrant camp Moria (“Camp Hell”). He dismissed the cabinet’s plan to take in 100 people after the devastating fire there last week as “juggling small numbers.” PVV leader Wilders accused Klaver of abusing the sentiment surrounding the displaced children and pointed out to Klaver that a number of asylum seekers started the fire in Moria themselves: „If you bring them here, the result will be that other asylum seekers’ centers also set on fire. to go.” For Klaver this is no reason to change course: more migrants still have to be brought to the Netherlands from him.

Prime Minister Rutte received praise from Klaver, but it was an insult wrapped in a compliment: “He was the prime minister who was there after the MH17 disaster. But there is also another prime minister: Mark the manager. ” Klaver made a plea against market forces in all kinds of areas: “The virus of economism has a hold on us.” The well-known hobbyhorse of climate policy was also discontinued.

Klaver and Wilders clashed hard about the controversial rapper Akwasi. Wilders asked Klaver whether he still thinks Akwasi is a ‘word artist’ after his performance on the Dam. Akwasi ‘s statements (including about kicking Zwarte Piet in the face) were “not handy”, the GL leader admitted, but Akwasi remains a’ word artist ‘for him: “He has also very often used a conciliatory tone.”

Housing crisis

CDA leader Pieter Heerma was the fourth to move. In his contribution, he focused on the ‘cooperative society’ that he believes should be created by 2040: by then the whole world will want to copy our polder model, says Heerma. According to Heerma, the ‘cooperative society’ is a model in which public and private organizations come closer together and make compromises. The housing shortage plays a prominent role in Heerma’s argument. He meets the left-wing parties well: for example, the CDA member argues for a Ministry of Housing and he showed his willingness to look at proposals from the opposition to lower rents that have risen due to inflation.

SP party chairman Lilian Marijnissen denounced the beginning of the debate in her contribution: “We are in the middle of the worst post-war crisis and we have been talking about Zwarte Piet, migrants and Moroccans for hours.” Like her predecessors, she also mentioned the housing shortage. She is irritated that Minister Kajsa Ollongren did not freeze the rents even after a motion of censure in the Senate. She called on the minister to do so.

FvD leader Baudet accused the SP after a speech by Marijnissen about racism of engaging in ‘identity politics’. “Nonsense”, says Marijnissen. “I don’t know where you get that idea. We resist manifestations of this wherever possible. ” She cites Anglicisation in all kinds of places as an example.

Rob Jetten (D66) uses the corona crisis to make a plea for working from home. His party wants employees to have the right to work from home one day a week from now on, even after the pandemic is over. Patients must also be able to contact doctors and specialists via video calling.

He further referred to the European State of the Union held earlier in the day by Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission). The cabinet’s climate plans must be “taken to a higher level,” said Jetten. The D66 leader once again advocated bringing the CO2 reduction to 55% by 2030, in line with Von der Leyen’s speech.

Asscher says goodbye to Rutte

PvdA party leader Lodewijk Asscher already took an advance on what he thinks the end of Rutte as head of government: “This is Rutte’s farewell budget. There are still a lot of farewell moments to come. ” The Prime Minister could laugh about it.

The housing budget, the support package, the Wopke / Wiebes fund: they were all still considered unsatisfactory by Asscher, who completely memorized his argument of almost half an hour. He could not convincingly enter a suggestion from CDA member Heerma to tell how he envisions the work guarantee he would like to see in the support package. Asscher sees a role for ‘authorities or UWV’. He believes that the employer has a kind of duty of care.

The left-wing parties had put all their demands on the table in a counter-budget on Wednesday morning. They propose to invest more than 9 billion euros more in health care (freezing health insurance premiums, higher wages, lower workload) and lower rents. In addition, they are asking for more corona support, in the form of continued payment of wages and more support for the self-employed.

To pay that, the parties want the high corporate profit tax rate. In addition, they propose a new tax bracket in which people have to pay 60 percent tax for their income above 150,000 euros and a higher tax on savings.

The opposition is expected to come up with motions on Thursday about the increasing housing shortage. Left-wing parties, for example, want the landlord levy to be lowered for housing corporations. The idea is that more can then be built. Dijkhoff indicated on Wednesday that he did not see anything in that plan.

The podcast Hammering with Wouter de Winther this week is all about a special Prinsjesdag. The political commentator goes through all the striking details together with presenter Pim Sedee:

Countdown

Wednesday’s debate is mainly dominated by the input of all parties. Thursday is then mainly reserved for answering the cabinet. Prime Minister Rutte will be responsible for this.

Normally he does that for a bulging ‘Box K’, which contains all the ministers and state secretaries. This is not allowed due to the corona measures, so Rutte is only flanked by Deputy Prime Ministers De Jonge, Ollongren and Schouten and the ministers Hoekstra (Finance), Koolmees (Social Affairs) and Wiebes (Economic Affairs). There are also restrictions for the House, a maximum of 50 of the 150 MPs may be in the hall at the same time.

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