Cash reserved to pay unemployment benefits has all been spent

The billion euro reserves of money set aside to pay unemployment benefits have been spent, Trouw reports on Monday.

At the end of 2008, over €9bn had been accumulated to pay jobless benefits (ww) but the fund is now €1.9bn overdrawn, the paper says. It bases its claims on figures from the benefits payment agency UVW.
Money to pay unemployment benefit comes from premiums paid by both employers and workers. However, in 2009, the government decided workers no longer had to contribute. That, coupled with the rise in unemployment stemming from the economic crisis, has led to the cash shortage.
Coalition talks
The ww problem is one of the subjects which the leaders of the three coalition parties will discuss during their talks on the government finances this week.
The talks are between prime minister Mark Rutte, CDA leader Maxime Verhagen, and Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam PVV which supports the government in some aspects of economic policy. The aim is to find at least €9bn in new cost cutting and other savings.
According to Trouw, the government has three options: reduce the benefits, increase the employers’ contribution or reintroduce a worker premium.
FNV union chief Agnes Jongerius said last week she is prepared to ask workers to pay premiums again if that keeps the current benefit system intact.