BBB, JA21 and SGP table sweeping demands for Dutch tax plan support

A joint offer from the right

On Thursday, 29 October, BBB, JA21 and SGP presented their alliance and sent a letter to the cabinet offering support for the tax plan and the other budgets. In return they want large changes to the plans of D66, VVD and CDA. The three parties now negotiate together with the minority cabinet, and JA21 leader Joost Eerdmans said they will stand or fall as one.

“It is together out or together home.”

BBB adds eleven Senate seats, which still leaves the trio one seat short of a majority in the Eerste Kamer. The left route through PRO and Volt would secure the cabinet a majority in both chambers.

Tax and nitrogen demands

The package is largest on tax. The three parties want citizens spared the freedom contribution, the levy meant to pay for defence spending, and they want a sharp reduction in the tax burden rather than only the removal of that levy. The cabinet has already promised to drop the burden increases for defence, but the trio wants far more than that.

On nitrogen, BBB no longer asks for the whole nitrogen plan to be withdrawn, but it does want large changes. The cabinet wants a zoning distance of 1,000 metres from farms in areas with a high nitrogen load, and the three parties want that cut to 250 metres. They also want the cap on cows per hectare scrapped, along with forced shrinkage and the revocation of permits. Meeting the nitrogen targets with these demands looks unlikely, the Volkskrant says.

Asylum and abortion demands

JA21 wants a written guarantee that municipalities can never be forced to take in asylum seekers, a point that runs against the positions of D66 and CDA. The three parties also want the dispersal law scrapped, the temporary asylum status of all Syrians reassessed and asylum reception built outside Europe. Asylum minister Bart van den Brink (CDA) said again on Thursday morning that the power is needed to carry out the dispersal law.

The SGP wants a pause on medical-ethical issues, which would freeze plans to widen rights on abortion and surrogacy. The Volkskrant reports that the SGP had stayed away from recent talks with the cabinet after filing a motion of censure against health minister Sophie Hermans over abortion policy.

Reaction in the coalition

Coalition insiders see the package as a list of unrealistic demands rather than a real offer. A minister asked whether these parties want a deal at all, according to the Gelderlander, and said JA21 already had nearly all its earlier asylum demands met. Asked for a reaction on Thursday morning, Bart van den Brink said he would not respond:

“The cabinet keeps talking to all parties, so in the meantime I will not respond.”

D66, VVD and CDA rejected these three demands in earlier rounds, and the VVD refuses a deal with PRO and Volt alone. The left route may have become more attractive, since PRO and Volt showed a constructive attitude this week. Their positions still differ sharply from the VVD's, because PRO and Volt want wealthy people taxed more and the VVD will not accept that. NOS reports that the left parties would not back parts of the right-wing package either.

What comes next

On Monday, 26 October, Prime Minister Rob Jetten urged parties to judge the tax plan on its content and not attach other demands to it. The cabinet wants broad support with 100 seats in the House, while the opposition says that is not possible and that the cabinet must choose between the two routes. The top of the cabinet convenes on Thursday afternoon with Jetten, vice-premiers Bart van den Brink (CDA) and Dilan Yesilgöz (VVD), and Finance Minister Eelco Heinen (VVD) to look for a way out.