Minister for Poverty Policy Carola Schouten (ChristenUnie) stands by her decision that the allowance of 1,300 euros, which is intended to compensate high energy costs, cannot be paid out to students. Carola Schouten writes that in a letter on Wednesday letter to the House of Representatives. According to Schouten, there is a chance that many students will receive the allowance even though they do not need it.
On Thursday students from Groningen protested against the minister’s decision because they believe it is unfair that they are excluded from the scheme. According to Schouten, the living situation of students is too diverse to grant the allowance to everyone. For example, there are student houses with several residents. According to Schouten, giving them all 1,300 euros would ensure that they receive much more money than they need for the bills for gas and light.
Paying the supplement specifically to students who do have their own energy bill is, in her opinion, impracticable. “This is not an unwillingness of the cabinet, but impotence,” she writes. In an earlier letter to the House, the minister wrote that she had discussed several times with the Education Executive Agency (DUO) to ask to what extent DUO can play a role in granting allowances to students who need it. However, DUO says it does not have the correct data to make a good judgment about this.
“I consider individual special assistance a more suitable instrument for this target group,” said Schouten in a statement letter to the House of Representatives. In this way, she says, the financial support ends up with the students who actually need it.