If Harrie Vreeker (64) from Sint Pancras were in charge, more money would go to healthcare and poverty reduction and less to development aid and aid to Ukraine. “We are sending dozens of fighter jets to Ukraine while almost a million people live in poverty here, that is too crazy for words,” said Harrie. “We need to do more for our own people.”
For Budget Day, in which the national budget for next year is presented, NH asks several North Hollanders how their wallets are doing. Can they still make ends meet? And what should more or less money be allocated for?
Harrie has been largely disabled since 2012. “I had a heart attack after a major operation, and cancer was also discovered in a vertebra. I worked at a funeral home and my boss was already anticipating the worst. It’s a miracle that I’m still here.”
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To supplement his income, Harrie works a number of hours a week as a promotions employee. He often stands in supermarkets to let customers taste products. “I especially enjoy chatting with customers. I always try to make a show of it.”
Because his wife Anita also has a job, the family can make ends meet. Yet it is not all that bad. “Gasoline, groceries, it has all become a lot more expensive. You take it into account and see where you can cut back. We haven’t gone to a restaurant in a while.”
For his work as a promotion employee, Harrie travels throughout the country, NH followed him far across the provincial border to Zeewolde where he tries to sell plant-based milk. (text continues below the video)
Harrie is, in his own words, a positive person but believes that a lot needs to change in the Netherlands. “There are so many people who have to use the food bank, there are children who go to school without breakfast. That shouldn’t be possible for a civilized country like the Netherlands, right?”
He therefore hopes that more money will be reserved in the million-dollar bill to improve the purchasing power of the Dutch. According to Harrie, something also needs to be done about migration, “You have to help people who are really fleeing war, but so much money is now going to fortune seekers, that really needs to be addressed.”