Support increasing for free childcare for everyone

Coalition party D66 joined opposition party GroenLinks in its proposal to make childcare free for all parents. The two parties will submit this proposal during a parliamentary debate on the childcare allowance scandal and the Cabinet's resignation on Tuesday afternoon, NOS reports.

GroenLinks and D66 wants childcare to become a free public facility, just like education. This would mean that the childcare allowance, which was at the heart of the Tax Authority's fraud witch hunt that left thousands of families financially destitute, can be completely abolished.

By joining GroenLinks in this proposal, the D66 is going against agreements made within the coalition. But as the Rutte III cabinet resigned due to the childcare allowance scandal, and is now only a caretaker cabinet, the parties are no longer bound by the coalition agreements. 

GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver sees this as a chance for a "social majority" in the lower house of Dutch parliament, at least until the parliamentary elections in March. "The allowance affair must become a turning point, from here we are going to rebuild the welfare state," Klaver said. 

Trade union FNV also recently called for childcare to be free. "Free childcare would be the best answer to the childcare allowance affair," FNV vice president Tuur Elzinga said. "All employees will benefit from this. No more witch hunts for suspected fraudsters, who are not aware of harm. With terrible, traumatic and dire financial consequences."