Agreement reached on next year's budget after 14-hours meeting

After negotiating for over 14 hours, the coalition parties and Cabinet reached an agreement on the national budget for 2023. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag made the announcement just before 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, NOS reports.

Rutte and Kaag refused to give any details about the agreement. The Cabinet will announce the budget on Prinsjesdag on September 20. The Council of State still has to evaluate the plans for potential problems. The government’s deadline to submit the budget to the Council was today.

A significant issue in the negotiations was purchasing power. Due to the high inflation, many Netherlands households are struggling to make ends meet. The Central Planning Office (CPB) calculated that purchasing power would drop 6.8 percent this year.

It was very complicated, but the Cabinet managed to put “a nice package” together that should absorb the blow for households, Rutte and Kaag said.

Kaag called the past few days’ discussions very intensive. “We spent a while on it, but it’s a nicely balanced package,” the D66 leader said.

When asked why the last meeting stretched through the night, Rutte said that the issues on the table were “very complex” and extensive.

Prinsjesdag, or Budget Day, is always on the third Tuesday in September. This year that falls on September 20. On that day, the government traditionally reveals its plans for the coming year, and the Minister of Finance presents the national budget to parliament.