ANP
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News from the NOS•today, 13:58•Modified today, 15:25
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High-level political consultations on rising energy prices are taking place at the Hague Ministry of Finance. Some ministers and faction leaders of the coalition parties started emergency consultations just after 3pm.
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Prime Minister Rutte is reportedly not present and Minister Jetten is also absent. The consultations are in any case with the Minister of Finance Kaag, the Secretary of State Van Rij who is responsible for taxes and the party leaders Hermans of the VVD, Paternotte of the D66 and Heerma of the CDA. The leader of ChristenUnie Segers is not physically present, but he is participating.
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Langer
The consultation talks about measures to accommodate people affected by rising energy prices. The cabinet has been talking about it for some time, but no decision has yet been made. One of the considerations is a maximum price that energy companies can charge.
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An important question is whether such a proposal is practically feasible. Minister Jetten said earlier: “We evaluate everything that is suggested, but it must be feasible.”
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There are also plans for a joint emergency fund by the government and energy companies. This should help people who are in trouble. The government would like to invest hundreds of millions of euros.
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No closure
As the price of gas has risen tremendously since the beginning of this year, more and more people are finding it difficult to pay their energy company bills. Now that more and more people are running out of permanent contracts, the problem gets even bigger. The government wants to prevent people who can no longer pay their bills from being cut off. In this regard, discussions are underway with the energy companies.
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House of cats
Sources in The Hague expect the consultations to be concluded by the end of the afternoon. A meeting is scheduled for tomorrow morning at the Catshuis, to make final decisions on what will be discussed this afternoon.
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Tuesday is Prinsjesdag and the government is very interested in reaching an agreement by then.
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