VVD attacked in election debate; Accused of being far-right, out of touch, & antisocial

The VVD and party leader Dilan Yeşilgöz faced heavy fire in an election debate with the D66, CDA, and GroenLinks-PvdA on RTL Nieuws on Sunday. The other parties accused the liberals of being increasingly far-right, being out of touch with the current zeitgeist with their housing policy, and having anti-social healthcare plans.

D66 leader Rob Jetten believes that the VVD’s plans are becoming increasingly extreme. Jetten said he had hoped Yeşilgöz would “learn her lessons” after the failed collaboration with the PVV in the current twice-collapsed Cabinet. But on issues like development cooperation, the VVD became “even more extreme than before,” according to the D66 leader.

“You want to make even more cuts to development cooperation, you’re essentially doing nothing to achieve climate goals, and you’re cutting €1.5 billion from education and innovation, and that’s very bad for the investment climate for entrepreneurs,” Jetten said.

According to Jetten, the other parties present - his D66, GroenLinks-PvdA, and CDA - have taken steps that will make future collaboration possible, but Yeşilgöz is doing the opposite.

The VVD leader countered that D66's plans are passing the bill “on to people at home and in businesses.” She called this “irresponsible” and invited Jetten to make a move to “enable a center-right Cabinet.”

The VVD wants to cut €1.5 billion from education by admitting fewer international students and providing vocational colleges with more practical experience. According to Yeşilgöz, the quality of education will not decline. She called it a “weakness” to dismiss this measure as extreme.

CDA leader Henri Bontenbal accused Yeşilgöz and the VVD of “no longer feeling the current zeitgeist” by holding on to the mortgage interest deduction. By refusing to cut this measure, she is “maintaining the status quo,” the CDA leader said. “You are overheating the housing market even more” by “providing first-time buyer loans and reducing the jubilee bonus.” The CDA called these “very unwise measures” with which the VVD is only driving up home prices.

According to Yeşilgöz, the CDA is taking away many euros from families’ budgets by abolishing the mortgage interest deduction. She mentioned 400 euros for a first-time buyer family, but Bontenbal did not recognize that amount. “That calculation needs to be recalculated, because it’s not correct,” the CDA leader said after the debate.

Bontenbal pointed out in the debate that the CDA doesn’t want to scrap the tax benefit for homeowners immediately, but phase it out over 30 years. Moreover, the Christian Democrats want to use the proceeds to reduce the tax burden on labor. The same applies ot the other parties that have this measure in their election program.

The mortgage interest deduction currently costs the state treasury €11 billion per year. The tax benefit has been gradually phased out in recent years, most rapidly under the third cabinet of VVD Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The cost of further reductions to a household depends on factors such as the amount of debt, the interest rate, and the remaining term of the mortgage.

According to Yeşilgöz, scrapping the mortgage interest deduction will not solve the problems in the housing market. According to her, that requires significant construction and less immigration.

GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans called the VVD’s healthcare plans “antisocial.” He particularly objects to the liberals’ plan to no longer automatically reimburse new medications for cancer from the basic health insurance package. He also called it “stupid" that the VVD wants to raise the healthcare deductible to 440 euros. “Then people wait before going to the doctor, and the problems will only get worse.” Timmermans wants to halve the deductible, like the Schoof Cabinet planned.

Yeşilgöz called the VVD’s cuts to healthcare a “reform.” The party wants to use the money raised to cover higher defense spending. According to Yeşilgöz, reforms are necessary because otherwise, healthcare will become unaffordable.