The coalition and opposition reached an agreement on the education budget on Thursday evening. The agreement was reached after weeks of negotiations. The opposition’s commitment was clear: the intended cuts to education had to be off the table. They partly got their way.
Because the cabinet does not have a majority in the Senate, it had to reach an agreement with the opposition. That is why PVV, VVD, BBB and NSC sat down with CDA, SGP, ChristenUnie, JA21 and D66. The latter party recently left the negotiations, seemingly blowing up the so-called ‘monster alliance’, but the other parties have now reached an agreement.
It has been agreed, among other things, that the social service period will remain intact. The parties also agreed to scrap the plan for the ‘long study fine’, as well as the cuts to religious education and religious cultural heritage.