Dutch gov't exploring measures against high energy, fuel prices; Not ready to take any
The Cabinet promised to explore various measures to alleviate the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East, including a possible price cap on fuel and energy bill support for low- and middle-income households. But no measures will be taken for the time being, the Ministers of Finance and Economic Affairs made clear during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, NOS reports.
The global crisis could well become much worse than the current worst-case scenarios, Finance Minister Eelco Heinen stressed. And then the Dutch government must still have money available to provide relief to households at risk of drowning. “Then we cannot be left empty-handed,” he said. Government finances are already not in a great position. “The free options have really run out.”
He and Minister Heleen Herbert of Economic Affairs both urged parliamentarians to be patient. The Cabinet is working on an inventory of possible measures, which they hope to have ready before the Spring Memorandum, the April update to the annual budget. That could mean that decisions could be made in May or June.
The government wants to “take effective measures aimed at those who need them most,” Herbert said, echoing the sentiment stressed by the Dutch Central Bank earlier this week. “We are preparing for a longer crisis, where applying band-aids is not enough.”
But multiple parties pushed for swift action. Skyrocketing fuel prices are already getting citizens into financial trouble. “The Dutch people cannot wait,” said MP Hidde Heutink of Groep Markuszower. GroenLinks-PvdA proposed a price cap on petrol and diesel, modeled after the Belgian example. The right-wing parties, including coalition party VVD, pushed for lowering excise duties on fuel.
Minister Herbert called the price cap on fuel “interesting” and said it would certainly be explored as part of the measures the Cabinet is putting “in the groundwork.” But the government wants to first investigate whether a price cap would not drive up prices if petrol station owners start charging exactly the maximum price.
She added that the government will not start preparing a legislative proposal for the price cap, to be able to implement it quickly, as GL-PvdA leader Jesse Kalver wanted. Partly because the civil servants at her Ministry are already very busy and don’t need potentially unusable proposals as part of their workload.
The government is also not considering cutting excise duties on fuel for the time being, as the right-wing parties wanted. Other parties pointed out that, while this tax cut is easy to implement, such a general measure would cost billions and also end up helping people with higher incomes, who do not need the help.
Despite parliament’s impatience, the MPs could not reach an agreement on any proposals to force the minority Cabinet to take concrete measures yet. Only proposals to investigate specific measures received majority support.
