The annual tripartite social meetings which will open on April 23 are going to evaluate the main ongoing reforms and spur new changes. This year, purchasing power is at issue. (Ref. 080282)
Unions are asking for measures such as delaying to 2009 the increase of value added tax (VAT) from 19% to 20%, which was planned for this year. De Unie, an executives’ union, thinks that 2 billion of employees with “average” income will see their buying power shrink of 1% in 2008 because of a bigger inflation than anticipated. The increase of consumer prices could reach 2.75% in 2008 instead of the 2.25% planned. Piet Hein Donner, Minister for Social Affairs, opposed, on April 7, a bar to these
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