Coalition agreement makes too many unrealistic promises: SCP

The Dutch cabinet’s plans to cut the number of asylum seekers by pressing ahead with the previous government’s so-called “emergency law” are unrealistic, the socio-economic think tank SCP has warned.

In its analysis of the coalition agreement, the SCP said D66, CDA and VVD risked damaging public trust by making grand promises that they could not deliver on.

The SCP cast doubt on whether measures such as the introduction of a two-tier system for incoming refugees and the abolition of permanent residency status would “bring down the incoming numbers in the short term”.

It also criticised the lack of any detailed explanation of its plans to restrict numbers of labour migrants by focusing on “skilled workers”.

“These are policies that are in line with what many citizens want,” the SCP said in its report, but added: “If they do not deliver results, it will damage trust in government.”

The SCP was similarly critical of the cabinet’s plans to focus on preventive healthcare at the same time as making €10 billion of cuts to the budget and raising the excess charge (eigen risico) on compulsory medical insurance.

It said focusing on children’s health and stimulating healthier choices through measures such as a sugar tax could “be effective in the long term, but only offer a limited answer to problems in the here and now.”

The head of the SCP, Karen van Oudenhoven, said the coalition agreement reflected “a clear ambition to tackle large social issues.”

But she also warned that “measures on health, social security and longer working lives can increase inequality.”

Van Oudenhoven highlighted the plan to postpone the statutory retirement age, already one of the highest in Europe, in step with projected life expectancy, as a policy that would disadvantage vulnerable groups such as people with physically demanding jobs.