Jetten says tax plan deals possible today in opposition talks
The prime minister is meeting three groups of opposition parties on the Belastingplan (tax plan) and the budgets, and the cabinet will table concrete proposals today.
Prime Minister Jetten says deals can be done today in talks with some opposition parties on the Belastingplan and the budgets. "Everyone feels that compromises will have to be made somewhere. As far as I'm concerned, deals can be done today," he said at the start of the talks. The cabinet will make concrete proposals today, based on the earlier talks.
Jetten is meeting three combinations in turn: ChristenUnie and 50Plus, then JA21, BBB and SGP, and finally Pro and Volt. The weekly ministerraad (cabinet meeting) has been moved to the afternoon because of the talks.
JA21, BBB and SGP presented themselves yesterday as an alliance that could also form a majority in the Tweede Kamer and the Eerste Kamer (Senate). They want something in return: their list of demands runs from the nitrogen (stikstof) issue to surrogacy. Coalition parties D66 and CDA said last night that they were unhappy with the demands.
Jetten has doubts about those demands. "We also have a number of questions for them," he said. "Do you really want to link very heavy medical-ethical issues to what people pay at the petrol pump? I wouldn't link them that way. Tying too many subjects together leads to deadlock."
Jetten said the cabinet is still not aiming for a choice "between left or right". He hopes different proposals can win over different opposition parties.
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Eerste Kamer
The Senate, the upper house of the Dutch parliament. It cannot amend bills but can approve or reject them after the Tweede Kamer has passed them. Its 75 members are elected by the members of the provincial councils.
Belastingplan
The Belastingplan is the annual tax bill: the package of tax laws the cabinet submits to parliament, setting tax rates, allowances and tax rules for the coming year. It is presented on Prinsjesdag with the national budget, and it must be approved by both the Tweede Kamer and the Eerste Kamer before it takes effect on 1 January. Because it determines how much tax people and businesses pay, its content is often negotiated with parties outside the coalition.
ministerraad
The ministerraad (Council of Ministers) is the weekly meeting of the cabinet's ministers, chaired by the prime minister, where the government takes its collective decisions. Bills, policy proposals and budget matters are agreed there before they go to parliament. It is the central decision-making body of the Dutch cabinet.