DutchNews.nl - Pay rises, Mozambique villa, hit royal support

Some 90% of the Dutch population think the royal family should pay tax, and 72% think queen Beatrix should offer to freeze the family's official income, according to a TNS Nipo poll for tv show Blauw Bloed.

And 37% of those polled said their support for the royal family had gone down because of the row over prince Willem-Alexander's controversial holiday home in Mozambique and the discussion over royal spending.

Some 50% of respondents said prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende should ask the prince to pull the plug on the African project. Four out of 10 says the royal family budget should be frozen because of the economic crisis and over one third think it should be cut.

At last month's budget presentation it emerged the royal household is to get more money next year.

Debate

According to Nos tv, Beatrix, Willem-Alexander and his wife Máxima will get over €7,1000,000 in government cash next year. On top of that the royal household has been allocated over €32m to pay for the upkeep of palaces, official visits, transport and support services.

MPs debated the queen's budget on Thursday afternoon. During the debate, MPs urged the prime minister to take steps to limit the damage to the family's reputation. 'It is of great importance that the members of our royal family show irreproachable behaviour. We do not want their image to be damaged,' Labour MP Anja Timmer said.

This is by all standards an obscene amount of money paid to people who have no real jobs and whose contributions to the country are neglegible.We started out rather successfully as a Republic and there is no reason not to go back to this.Here is where our real roots are, not in a kingdom that was artificially created in 1815 and that was a step backward on the road to a modern democratic state.

By Jan-Dirk Wagenaar | October 8, 2009 4:55 PM

damn right they should pay tax, they are super loaded as it is so they should give a little back, they live in luxury that we can only dream of

By adhd | October 8, 2009 5:08 PM

Concretly, what can we do to address that serious topic. Petition? Referendum? vote for a party who will fix this for the rest of us hard-working tax-payers?

By John | October 9, 2009 12:48 PM

The Crown Prince is the first male heir to the throne in almost a hundred years. He married a beautiful girl. Give them a break!

By Augustus | October 10, 2009 3:42 PM

Yes I agree, give the Prince a break....a 20 minute break like most workers have.

By alanposting | October 12, 2009 12:03 PM