The cuts announced in Tuesday’s budget have set the stage for the next government, according to most newspaper editorials on Wednesday.

Despite the restrictions imposed by its caretaker status, the cabinet has managed to pursue a balanced financial policy, NRC.next says in its editorial on Tuesday’s budget.
The government was right to impose spending cuts because the national debt has never been so high. But these cuts are only the first step, the paper points out. The rest will be up to the next government.
It is now 105 days since the general election and it is time the Netherlands had a new government, the paper states. ‘Whether it is right-wing, centre-right, left-centre-right or whatever make-up at all.’
Stable
The queen called for stable government in her speech, but the chance of that happening is small, writes Trouw in its editorial. The next cabinet will have to embark upon serious reforms and that will take a stable government.
But at the moment Geert Wilders’ PVV, which plans to give parliamentary support to a minority government and is closely involved in the negotiations, is frustrating efforts, the paper says.
It does not want to increase the state pension age, refuses to agree to labour market reforms and does not consider the rising cost of healthcare to be a problem.
In order to see these reforms through, prime ministerial hopeful Mark Rutte will have to rely on support from other parties. Tuesday’s budget, Trouw says, has set the stage for these reforms.
Lack of policies
The cuts outlined by the outgoing government raise a number of questions of policy, writes the Volkskrant in its editorial. For example, will the cuts in spending on the civil service be coupled with the removal of a managerial layer? And will the cuts in healthcare services have an effect on improvements in healthcare provisions?
And childcare and integration – both main planks of the outgoing government’s polices – have both been singled out for heavy reductions in spending, the paper points out.
The Telegraaf argues that the cuts will not be pleasant, but are necessary because no risks can be taken given the fragility of the economic recovery. ‘It is a sour apple,’ the paper writes. ‘But everyone will have to bite it.’
The AD prefers to focus on the candle-holder throwing incident, in which a man with mental health problems threw a block of glass at the coach carrying queen Beatrix to parliament.
‘It is the latest scratch on a figurehead that binds us all,’ the paper says in an opinion piece.