The calculations of the party programs make painful choices clear. But parties such as NSC and BBB now promise free beer. That can leave a bitter aftertaste.
Most parties participating in the House of Representatives elections on November 22 do not have their programs calculated by the CPB, the Central Planning Bureau. This is especially disturbing for parties that rank high in the polls, such as NSC, BBB and PVV, because citizens ultimately have to pay the bill for great promises from these parties. There is no such thing as free beer.
The CPB calculations will be published on Wednesday, November 8. Normally that is a moment when the election campaigns start to get serious because the painful choices become clear. This year it is a lot more difficult because only VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie have their programs calculated.
It is perhaps understandable for Omtzigt’s New Social Contract that the election program was ready so late because the party has only been active for such a short time. On the other hand, it is a party that is making a serious bid for power, so it must also be held accountable.
An argument that Omtzigt and Caroline van der Plas use is that the CPB models are flawed. That’s easy to say. Of course, reality is much more complicated than models. But if the same models are used for all parties, there is still a reasonably fair comparison.
Now NSC and BBB both say that they can make significant savings on government expenditure by cutting bureaucracy in healthcare and civil service organizations. That sounds too good to be true and it probably is. Of course, there is no party that wants more bureaucracy and is willing to invest a lot of extra money into it.
However, the parties that do have their program calculated are more realistic about what ‘cutting bureaucracy’ can actually achieve. Unfortunately, there are many bureaucratic rules for good reason. Removing it may cause problems elsewhere.
The plans of NSC and BBB could easily mean a very painful cutback in healthcare, education and the central government. Citizens ultimately pay a price for this.