6 party leaders tackle housing, healthcare, and cost of living in RTL election debate

Leaders from six political parties took part in an election debate hosted by RTL on Sunday evening. The debate centered around the three main issues identified by opinion polls as most important to voters, namely housing, healthcare and cost of living.

Dilan Yeşilgöz (VVD), Geert Wilders (PVV), Caroline van der Plas (BBB), Esther Ouwehand (PvdD), Rob Jetten (D66), and Lilian Marijnissen (SP) participated. Notably absent from the debate were Frans Timmermans, the leader of the left-wing alliance PvdA/GroenLinks, and Pieter Omtzigt of Nieuw Sociaal Contract.

On housing, Dilan Yeşilgöz acknowledged that the housing crisis had partly arisen under her party's leadership. She did not immediately admit that the VVD was to blame for the housing crisis. "That's a bit too easy." However, she acknowledged that her party has indeed played a role, but did not want to elaborate further.

The VVD is often pointed to as a contributing factor in the housing crisis. Under VVD minister Stef Blok, responsible for housing between 2012 and 2016, housing corporations faced significant taxation, reducing their capacity to build more houses. He also allowed more room for foreign investors and landlords, who could offer separate contracts.

Lilian Marijnissen and Esther Ouwehand strongly criticized the VVD on this issue. "This housing shortage isn't a natural phenomenon," Marijnissen said "We have come to see housing as a market.”

Ouwehand agreed, and advocated for more construction on agricultural land, which currently covers about half of the Netherlands. According to her party, the livestock population must be reduced by three-quarters to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Rob Jetten said his party supported building up in cities, for instance, by constructing taller buildings. He also proposed building "an extra street" around villages or cities in green areas. Caroline van der Plas said her party wants to scrap certain rules for sustainable building. She also advocated for more renovation of existing buildings for residential use. Geert Wilders from the PVV argued for allocating fewer houses to asylum seekers.

On healthcare, Jetten and Yeşilgöz criticized the regulatory burden in healthcare. Geert Wilders also noted that healthcare workers spend about 40 percent of their time on administrative tasks, and in elderly care, it's about 30 percent. If this burden was halved, "you could have 500,000 more people in healthcare without it costing a cent,” he said.

Caroline van der Plas also said she believes that the regulatory burden must be drastically reduced. Healthcare workers are "almost all day busy with ticking boxes and filling out forms. If they had wanted to become accountants, they would have become accountants, but they want to be in healthcare,” she said.

Another point of discussion was policies on elderly care. Yeşilgöz disagreed with Marijnissen that market forces need to be removed from healthcare to facilitate more such neighbourhood homes.

Marijnissen said that the closure of nursing homes by the Rutte II cabinet of the VVD and PvdA was a "historic mistake." Yeşilgöz countered that throwing money at the problem won't "magically produce people," advocating for a "smart" redesign of the healthcare system. She said she believes digital tools could improve care like devices reminding the elderly to take their medication. She also wants to eliminate rules that hinder healthcare workers.

On the cost of living, Jetten and Yeşilgöz clashed over the distribution of financial burdens. Jetten accused the VVD of increasing the burden on working people, while Yeşilgöz argued that D66 is jeopardizing jobs by imposing heavier taxes on businesses.

A recent calculation by the Central Planning Bureau (CPB) showed that the VVD's plans would increase the financial burden on households by 2 billion euros. "I almost fell off my chair when I saw that," Jetten said. "Because you are always talking about the hardworking Dutch people."

Yeşilgöz pointed out the significant burden increase that D66 plans to impose on businesses according to the same CPB models. "You're taking nearly 16 billion away from entrepreneurs, which will mean all those hardworking Dutch people will end up without jobs."

Jetten countered that the higher burdens would primarily affect polluting and highly profitable companies. "These are the strongest shoulders that can certainly contribute a bit more." He also criticized the VVD for wanting to dip into the National Growth Fund, which is intended to help companies innovate.