Netherlands: new government wants to cut minimum wage

A coalition agreement between the liberal party (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) was presented on September 30th and approved on October 5th by the Christian democrats’ extraordinary congress.  Within this center party, some were opposed to an alliance with Geert Wilders’ Populist Party.  This islamophobe, whose resounding trial because of his “speech stirring up hatred” started on October 4th, recommends, among other things, banning the Koran, a book he compares to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”  Wilders accepted to support the government from the Parliament, without having any Ministers.  The coalition agreement plans to increase retirement age to 66 in 2020 and to cut minimum wage, major concessions for Wilders who defends a status quo for social benefits.  In return, the ultra-conservative, at the head of the country’s third political party, secured the duration of unemployment benefits and the dismissal act.  The only major social reform to come is about the merger of several welfare programs for youth and long-term jobseekers to reduce their amount and the number of beneficiaries.  The key employers’ organization, the Federation of Netherlands Employers and Industrialists (VNO-NCW) said it was ready to work with this coalition. Commentators interpret this as a sign of pragmatism since the head of the employers’ organization, Bernard Wientjies, warned, before the election, about the possible negative impact of Geert Wilders entering the government on the international image of the Netherlands, a small country that relies on external trade a lot.  The Federation of Dutch Unions (FNV) said that the new government was a “coalition of rich people who are going to make low and middle wage earners pay.”  Aiming to cut public spending by €18 billion, “the government is going to damage the economy instead of helping it get better” the key union declared.