With the coalition formation talks set to really get going next week, unions, employers and interest groups are coming up with a string of policy measures they would like to see adopted by the new government.

Central bank president Klaas Knot said on Thursday that the new administration should not be too generous with giving away cash. ‘There is no need to make further cuts, and that is the good news,’ he said. ‘But there is no room for major expenditure either.’

Speaking at the presentation of the central bank’s annual report, Knot said that the new cabinet should target a budget surplus of 1% in onder to ensure the government’s finances are robust in the long term.

At the same time, the cabinet should invest, making sure that the Netherlands is sustainable in terms of environmental and social policy. In particular, there needs to be legislation focusing on the climate to bring clarity, he said.

‘Prosperity that generates major environmental damage, which pressures social relationships or is based on financial bubbles, is not sustainable in the long term,’ Knot said.

Redundancy law

Meanwhile, unions have been quick to condemn calls from employers for changes to redundancy legislation, so it is easier to sack staff.

‘The employers are trying to demolish workers’ redundancy protection,’ FNV spokeswoman Mariëtte Patijn told broadcaster NOS. ‘We made a deal with employers a year ago. The ink has barely dried and they want to reduce the provisions even further. No way.’

Employers organisation VNO-NCW has also called on Edith Schippers, who is leading the negotiations, to include better anti-takeover defences for Dutch firms in the discussions.

‘Our country must not become a passive spectator to a sell-out process that leads to structural impoverishment of the Netherlands,’ chairman Hans de Boer said in a letter to Schippers.

The VNO-NCW wants all Dutch companies to have the right of ‘recourse to an adequate response period in case of a hostile takeover,’ he said. This should also be possible in ‘situations in which an activist shareholder is acting against the long-term strategy of the company.’

Keep it simple

Senior civil servants from all the government ministries have also written to Schippers urging her to make sure that the coalition agreement is not too complicated.

Putting policy proposals into practice is often more difficult that foreseen and this can create agreements which cannot be met, the civil servants say in Thursday’s NRC.