Left-wing parties want strict conditions attached to coronavirus business bailouts

If the government comes up with a new aid package to help companies affected by the coronavirus crisis, stricter conditions much be attached to that aid, according to GroenLinks and the PvdA. Among other things, aid should not go to companies that still pay bonuses to their top, and companies should meet sustainability requirements, the party leaders said on television on Monday evening.

GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver told Jinek that money intended to keep paying wages through the crisis should not end up in shareholders' pockets. Companies that pay bonuses to their top and dividends to their shareholders can use that money for wages and should not be able to count on government support, he said. Neither should companies located in tax havens. The government should check afterwards whether the support measures were used correctly.

"I think that if we as a society support large companies, they should pay a lot themselves and also pay taxes in the Netherlands in good times," he said to Jinek. "Nobody wants that money to go to the shareholders, the top people, to the people who already have that money," Klaver said.

PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher made similar statements to Op1. "There is now also an opportunity to do better," he said. "People help each other. I think it is right that we help companies, but then this is also the time to make clear agreements. The money comes from society. This is also a precondition for continued support from the PvdA. During the banking crisis, the bill was paid by ordinary people. Let's make that better please."

So far the Dutch government earmarked around 20 billion euros to support companies affected by the coronavirus crisis, according to NOS.