Cabinet won’t ask for opposition’s input on spring update of national budget this year

This year, the Cabinet will not visit each opposition party to hear their input on the spring update of the national budget. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag decided to skip this part of the “new administrative culture” Rutte IV said it aimed for after last year’s tour went less than optimally, insiders told De Telegraaf.

According to the newspaper’s sources, it was particularly FvD leader Thierry Baudet, who played loud classical music and introduced his trainee as a “spiritual coach” during the meeting last year, who was the deciding factor in not making the “pilgrimage,” as Kaag described it, this year. “We’re going to skip that,” an insider told the newspaper.

But in practice, visiting the opposition parties to hear their wishes on a budget the coalition had already agreed upon turned out to take a lot of time and had little added value. Last year’s budget was also quite complicated, with billions pushed into defense and protecting people’s purchasing power after Russia invaded Ukraine.

This year’s spring memorandum should be easier, the newspaper wrote. Instead of spending, the government is focused on collecting money to cover their outstanding expenses, like the price cap on energy.

The Cabinet will start working on the spring memorandum in the coming days.