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Father with newborn baby (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/Leslie L. Tomaino)
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Father with newborn baby (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/Leslie L. Tomaino)
Friday, 21 August 2015 - 08:32
Budget leak: Paternity leave expanded; more cash for defense, nursing homes
The coalition parties have extra money to spend due to a "relatively easy budget" this year. The VVD and PvdA each have 375 million euros to give away, and they will be pushing it mainly into healthcare and Defense.
This is according to documents in the hands of RTL Nieuws.
The VVD will be putting the bulk of the money into Defense. "There are many priorities and demands within Defense", Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said. "I share that. And the question is how much money is available."
The Labor party will be focusing on healthcare. Fathers will be getting five days paid leave after the birth of a child from 2017, instead of the current two days. This will coast about 75 million euros a year. Nursing homes will receive 133 million euro extra euros annually to improve care. And there will also be 1,000 euros extra per elderly person for activities like bingo or making music.
According to Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem of Finance, after the difficult crisis years, the budget is relatively easy this year.