It took a few weeks but after our last elections in September it looks like a two party government has been formed (for my first posts about this, see here and here).
It started fine. Two parties got the majority of votes, they were willing to start talking together and then we had a few weeks of, what the media called, “radio-silence”. No information whatsoever. All we saw were the smiling faces of the party leaders and their comment, “No comment yet”. Nice as we are here we accepted it (even the media didn’t probe any further) and last week, all of a sudden there was news. There was an agreement and both parties were forming the Cabinet, the group of ministers (I think they are called Secretaries in the USA).
And their “Political Agreement” became public. And then all hell broke loose.
It was clear from the beginning that both parties had to water down their principles in order to form a government together. They are both on the opposite side of the political scale, so it would be difficult. It became a matter of give an take.
But after reading the Agreement most of the Dutch feel they are the ones who have to give. Because in order for the national economy to get in order again, cuts have to be made. And, as part of this Agreement, most cuts are made in our health care system, meaning those of us with jobs and moderate to high earnings will have to pay hundreds of euros more every month (yes, MONTH) on health insurances. That money will go to the government and then too … well, probably that black hole called Public Spending.
The opposition in Parliament was livid! But the two ruling parties have a majority in Parliament so there is not much to be done there. We now have to rely on our Senate, where the opposition has a majority. Some have already stated to vote against this plan, so not all hope is lost.
Mind you, cuts have to be made. No one disagrees with that. But this is such a one sided solution, hurting families with children in the first place, that it’s totally unacceptable.
Those who voted for these two parties are very sorry now!
Riete's place 