Slashed aid budget must help “Dutch earning power”: minister

The Netherlands is scrapping development aid for programmes supporting women’s rights, higher education, sport and culture under reforms announced by PVV aid minister Reinette Klever on Thursday.

Klever said all programmes in future “must directly contribute to our interests” to make the distribution of funding “more relevant for Dutch taxpayers”, Klever said in a statement.

Unicef, one of the international organisations supported by the Netherlands, will lose 50% of its funding.

The cutbacks of €2.4 billion a year from 2027 will leave €3.8 billion to be spent to promote Dutch interests in the areas of “trade and economy, safety and stability and migration”.

Aid to countries should result in those countries becoming trade partners, which will “help Dutch earning power”, while the Netherlands’ security will be best served by limiting aid to West Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and East Africa, where, she said, “80% of conflicts take place while also being through routes for drugs and migrants”.

The minister said that the money should go to combatting people smuggling and helping police on the ground. Aid should also go towards providing accommodation for refugees in neigbouring countries in the regions to ease “asylum and migration pressure” on the Netherlands.

Klever earlier announced funding cutbacks for big NGOs, labelling them “bureaucratic and not always efficient”. Instead she favours cooperation with smaller, locally based organisations.