Today is the annual Little Prince Day, and the Dutch government's fiscal budget release day. After the Cabinet Minister of Finance announced the new fiscal budget, the Second House will hold a debate for several days.
Due to the traditional ceremony of royal members traveling in ancient carriages on Little Prince Day, the city of The Hague has attracted many people because this is the first large-scale public event in the two years of the epidemic, and it is also the royal family resumed the use of carriages on travel.
At 13 noon, the king and queen and Princess Amaria were riding in a glass carriage, while Prince Constantine and Princess Laurentian were riding in another car, departing from the Paleis Noordeinde and arriving at the Theatre Koninklijke Schouwburg. Since the traditional Knights Hall of Congress is still under maintenance, the The Hague Cathedral, which held two years of events during the epidemic, looks too small, and this year's main venue is here.
In addition to the fans of the royal family who seemed particularly excited, there were also people who went to protest, including farmers.
Today, the Hague Municipal Government confiscated several tractors that were planning to enter the city. The mayor of The Hague Van Zanen said farmers are welcome, but they cannot bring large items with them, because of safety reasons. Police declared a state of emergency in some areas today.
Fans of the royal family are particularly interested in the eldest princess Princess Amaria appeared in such a major occasion for the first time.
starts at 13:20 noon, and according to the traditional ceremony, the king reads the proclamation.
Today, King William Alexander read his longest little prince Japanese . The Netherlands ANP news agency reported that the announcement this year had 2838 words, an increase of nearly 300 words from last year. William Alexander, who has become king since 2013, had the shortest proclamation in 2017. There were only 1667 texts at that time.
Then, members of the royal family returned to the Nurdenburg Palace and appeared on the balcony, waving to the people.
Whether in the Theatre of the Hague or in front of the palace, there were protesting farmers, waving the upside-down Dutch flag to express their dissatisfaction.
At 3:30 pm, Finance Minister Kagg introduced the fiscal budget for the new year in the Second House.
As usual, this fiscal budget was also revealed to the outside world in advance. The following are the key points and plans of the fiscal budget, focusing on people's livelihood.
Main economic data
Next year the cabinet will earn 366.4 billion EUR and spend 395 billion euros.
Cabinet expects economic growth to be 1.5% next year, and it will still be 4.6% this year.
Measures to improve purchasing power
Cabinet will allocate an additional 17.2 billion euros to improve purchasing power. The Ukraine war pushed up energy prices, but food and daily necessities became more expensive.
Therefore, the minimum wage will increase by 10%, and pension AOW and other related social welfare will also increase.
Housing subsidies will be structurally increased by €16.94 per month.
medical allowance increased by 412 euros at one time.
Parents with children can expect higher parenting allowances; the amount of the third child will increase, which will be equal to the amount of the second child. In addition, single parents can receive additional allowances, but the specific amount is not yet known.
Students living away from home can receive an additional 165 euros per month.
Income income tax rate for the first group was reduced by 0.11 percentage points.
Reduce energy costs
In order to control energy costs within the limits, the Dutch government has announced a reduction in energy taxes. The temporary relief of fuel excise tax will be extended to at least June 2023.
Vulnerable families will receive an energy allowance of 1,300 euros.
expenditure on hosting refugees such as Ukrainians
Netherlands allocated more than 3.9 billion euros to support Ukraine, involving 70 million euros in military and humanitarian support, but receiving Ukrainian refugees is the largest expenditure project, at 2.6 billion euros. This year, an additional 503 million euros were allocated specifically for this.
By 2027, more than 1 billion euros have been designated for emergency reception of asylum seekers and for addressing housing and social integration issues for identity holders who are formally recognized as refugees.
Additional funds for those who are unequal in education opportunities, teachers and "loans"
Dutch government is concerned about the "downward trend" in primary and secondary education performance. There will be an additional billion of funds to address inequality in educational opportunities, a billion of funds to improve the quality of education, and an additional 800 million of funds to outstanding teachers, school leaders and educational aid staff.
also reserved 1 billion euros to provide better compensation for students who are “not entitled to basic bursaries”.
deal with crime
The government will allocate 100 million euros in 2023 to take measures to prevent vulnerable young people from eventually falling into crime. The same amount is also retained in the budget memorandum to fight drug crime more effectively.
Royal Family Budget
members of the royal family, including King William Alexander, Queen Maxima and former Queen Beatrix, will increase their income by about 450,000 euros in 2023, as well as paying staff and material expenses.
Over the years, the salaries of royal members have been rising, just like the salaries of the State Civil Service and the Vice Chairman of the State Council. However, Princess Amaria, the first heir to the throne, said that she would give up her income as long as she was still studying.
budget also shows that royals booked flights as much as they did this year, at 880,000 euros.
Defense, climate and epidemic
In addition, as previously announced, defense spending will reach 2% of GDP, about 5 billion euros.
Despite billions of euros being used to increase purchasing power, the government continues to invest climate funds to encourage sustainable production of hydrogen (145 million euros), offshore wind (180 million euros) and thermal energy (200 million euros).
023 will also provide funding for measures to curb the coronavirus, for which a total of 5.2 billion euros have been allocated.
will also provide an additional 16 million euros for the Caribbean.
