Cabinet to scrap welfare cuts in revised budget deal – RTL

The Dutch government has canceled most of its planned welfare cuts as it seeks to gain support from opposition parties for next year's budget, according to RTL Nieuws. The coalition will also postpone increasing the health insurance excess charge by a year and allocate €1.5 billion to ease the impact of inflation, especially rising energy costs, on consumer spending power.

This change in plans is a setback for the VVD party, which had initially refused to budge on the €6.5 billion worth of cuts to disability benefits, unemployment payments, and support for new mothers on maternity leave. The coalition, which is short of a majority in both the lower house and the Senate, had been negotiating with opposition parties in a bid to secure their backing for the budget.

However, the talks were unsuccessful as the parties were unable to reach an agreement on concessions to make to opposition groups on both the left and right. The finance minister, Eelco Heinen, and the prime minister, Rob Jetten, have been working for two weeks to reach a deal with opposition parties ahead of presenting the budget to parliament.