Dutch government reaches deal on spring budget after marathon talks

After days of talks and a marathon 25-hour negotiating session, the four coalition parties of the Dutch government have reached an agreement on the points in the spring budget. From a higher rental allowance to extra money for childcare, here’s a roundup of the most important changes. 

The details of the Dutch government’s spring budget 2025

After more than five weeks of tough negotiations, the spring budget statement (voorjaarsnota) is finally on the table. While some policies, such as a U-turn on the plan to increase VAT on culture, sports and media in the Netherlands, were expected, the budget also contains a few surprises. 

Here are the most important policies that have been announced so far: 

• Taxes on energy in the Netherlands will be reduced by a total of 200 million euros, providing relief to households; bills will go down by around 20 euros per year. 
• Rents in the social sector will be frozen in 2025 and 2026, while an additional 1,1 billion euros will fund an increase in the rental allowance. This means that the planned 5 percent rent increase will not go ahead. However, it was agreed that landlords in the private sector would be allowed to increase rents in the near future, although it is not yet clear by how much. 
• The government will provide more money to fund childcare, instead of cutting spending by 250 million euros, as was previously planned. 
• The planned VAT increase on culture, sports and media has been scrapped. 
• A proposal to increase the duty on alcohol has also been scrapped. 
• The WIA (disability) benefit system will go through a 200-million-euro reform.
• Defence spending will rise by 1,1 billion euros per year.
• 1,9 billion euros will go towards a new railway line between Enschede and Groningen, via Emmen. 
• Farmers will receive an additional 600 million euros in subsidies in 2025 and 2026. 
• An additional 863 million euros will be put towards asylum and the IND.

Funding for the above policies had to come from somewhere, however, and so the government has announced that there will be some cuts and changes for residents in the Netherlands to raise the additional funds. These include: 

• Income taxes will not be cut as much as was promised next year, according to RTL.
• Employers will face slightly higher social security premiums for their staff members, AD reports. 
• A lower increase on tax credits such as the general tax credit and the labour tax credit, to raise an additional 1,3 billion euros.
• The unemployment benefit allowance will be cut from two years to 18 months. 
• Cuts to the budget of the Ministry of Health, which will be forced to save 600 million euros on healthcare in the Netherlands. 
• Some ministries will also not receive their usual annual budget increase to account for inflation. 
• The funding for the promised Enschede-Groningen line will be taken from reserves earmarked for the long-delayed Lely line between Lelystad and Groningen. 

Coalition parties struggled to reach an agreement

It had been clear for a long time that the four parties in the coalition were struggling to come to an agreement that suited them and matched their election pledges. “That will be a difficult puzzle to complete,” Prime Minister Dick Schoof previously said. 

The spring budget will now be discussed in the Council of Ministers, before being put to parliament in June.