Two years ago GroenLinks-Pvda made Her election program The global climate crisis as a priority number one: it asked for “immediate and in -depth action.” In the concept program for the elections of 29 October presented this Monday, Woningbouw is the new “top priority” for the left-wing combination. “A good, affordable home is no longer justice, but a luxury.” It is a shift of emphasis that shows that at GroenLinks-PvdA the classic social and domestic themes are gaining ground at the start of the new election campaign.
In the preface of the program, entitled A new start for the Netherlandsled party leader Frans Timmermans to the outgoing cabinet, which leaves “a divided and paralyzed country” and has taken care of years of “stagnation and even decline.” “The previous cabinet was mainly concerned with itself and ignored the future of the Netherlands,” Timmermans reviews the coalition of PVV, VVD, BBB and NSC.
GroenLinks-PvdA wants to build more than one hundred thousand homes a year with ‘the largest investment program in decades’
GroenLinks-PvdA wants to do it completely differently and promises great ambitions and investments in numerous areas-from housing and nitrogen to defense and climate. The party wants to invest billions extra, among other things by setting up a future fund of 25 billion euros.
The precise financial basis for the plans comes later, but the party already writes: “Anyone who thinks hard cuts are wise is wrong.” Instead of cutting back, the party wants to increase taxes and more questions from “the top incomes, wealthy and most profitable companies”.
Read also
Seven reasons why too few houses are being built in the Netherlands
Housing
The focus on public housing, the first chapter of the election program, is not very surprising: in voter investigations, the Dutch put the housing shortage on one as a problem that must be tackled by politics. GroenLinks-PvdA wants to build more than one hundred thousand homes a year with ‘the largest investment program in decades’, an ambition that was also often mentioned by previous cabinets, but was not silvered.
To force breakthroughs, GroenLinks-PvdA promises a Housing Building Act to shorten construction procedures and to get the country of the ‘Nitrogen lock’. The left -wing combi wants to move or buy out intensive farmers as quickly as possible and give housing more space compared to aviation. Furthermore, ‘housing corporations new style’ must be introduced, which do not have to pay a profit tax and have to build many more affordable rental properties with that money. By increasing income limits, two thirds of the Netherlands must be part of the target group of social rent, much more than is the case now.
Although climate has dropped something in the pecking order, it is still the second of the five priorities in the program. GroenLinks-PvdA insists on the need for “just climate politics” and promises people who have difficulty paying their energy bills “being the first to help”-among other things with a “large-scale offensive” to better insulate homes. The party also wants an ‘energy boundary law’ to be able to expand the stuck power grid faster.
When it comes to climate goals, GroenLinks-PvdA remains more ambitious than the current intentions. For example, the Netherlands must become climate neutral in 2040, while the EU is aiming for 2050. The CO2-Reduction must already be 65 percent in 2030, instead of the current legally established 55 percent.
The party also proudly quotes the Green Deal designed by party leader Timmermans in Brussels, but writes that it “should not be stopped, but executed.” And she states that the Netherlands must now also opt for ‘real climate action’.
Young people
In the defense area, GroenLinks-PvdA supports the new NATO standard of 3.5 percent (the remaining 1.5 percent of the standard is spent resilience). The party does write that the Netherlands must ‘grow up’ to this standard and is not committed to the term of 2035 agreed by NATO countries in June. It further emphasizes that the extra investments in Defense should not be paid with cuts on social services such as care, education, benefits and pensions.
The youth organizations of the left -wing merger party, Dwars (GroenLinks) and the Young Socialists (PvdA), express their concerns in a response to the election program. The climate plans don’t go far enough, they think. “Industry that cannot green must disappear. We now miss that guts in the program.” The young people find the choice of the NATO standard worrying. “Staring our death on percentages and more weapons does not lead to more safety.”
Our deaths on percentages and more weapons does not lead to more safety
A traditional difficult theme for GroenLinks-PvdA is asylum and migration. It is an important topic for many voters, but has not achieved the top 5 of the party’s priorities. GroenLinks-PvdA did support the conclusions of the Demographic Development State Committee last year, which is repeated in the program: GroenLinks-PvdA opts for the scenario of ‘moderate growth’ and strives for an average migration balance of forty to sixty thousand a year. To achieve that, the party mainly wants to tackle low -paid labor migration and abuses in these sectors.
The problems in the asylum chain are mentioned. According to GroenLinks-PvdA, the current cabinet has ‘deliberately hidden’, among other things by Talmen with the Spreading Act. The program does not explicitly strive for fewer asylum seekers, although the EU migration pact is embraced, which contains stricter rules and the asylum procedure partly moves to the EU external borders. In addition, GroenLinks-PvdA wants to “strictly ensure that the human rights of refugees are guaranteed”.
Read also
GroenLinks-Pvda craves a progressive cover
