Prinsjesdag 2024

Queen Máxima, the Princess of Orange, Princess Alexia, Prince Constantjin and Princess Laurentien joined King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands as he gave the annual Prinsjesdag (Prince’s Day or Budget Day) Speech to the Dutch Parliament to outline the government’s agenda for the coming session on September 17th in The Hague.

The Royal Family rode in the Glass Coach from the Noordeinde Palace to the Koninklijke Schouwburg in The Hague, instead of the usual Ridderzaal (Hall of Knights), which is undergoing renovations.

The King and Queen were welcomed by military honours before making their way to the Throne, where the King Willem-Alexander delivered his annual Budget Speech to the Parliament, outlining the government’s agenda for the coming session. The annual ceremony is held on the third Tuesday of every September.

The Dutch Royal Family appear on the Balcony of Noordeinde Palace after the King’s annual Prinsjesdag Speech to the Dutch Parliament at the Koninklijke Schouwburg in The Hague!

🔗 https://t.co/Q6tKnOarbnpic.twitter.com/t5gRikYgTw

— The Royal Watcher (@saadsalman719) September 17, 2024

 

Afterwards, the Royal Family returned to the Noordeinde Palace in the carriages, where they appeared on the Palace Balcony.

King Willem-Alexander wore Morning Dress with the miniature pin of the Military William Order, the highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Queen Maxima wore a pale blue gown with Aquamarine Earrings and a Brooch as well as the the Sash and Star of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, her highest Dutch honour.

The Princess of Orange wore a green gown and the Sash and Star of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Princess Alexia wore a red gown, one of Queen Máxima’s Diamond Swirl Brooches, and the Sash and Star of the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Prince Constantijn wore Morning Dress with the miniature pin of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Princess Laurentien wore a pink gown with Queen Máxima’s Tanzanite Earrings and Brooch her Sash and Star of the Order of the House of Orange, her highest Dutch honour.

Members of the States General,

It is tempting to look back at the start of this parliamentary year on a summer of sports that has once again demonstrated what our country is capable of. For all those millions of sports fans in the Netherlands – including my own family – there was much to enjoy. And there was much to be proud of.

In terms of population, the Netherlands is approximately the seventieth country in the world. But on the Olympic and Paralympic medal table, our country reached sixth and even fourth place this summer. That is significant. With their great performances, the athletes of TeamNL have shown what can be achieved with talent, hard work and perseverance, even when things go wrong. Society should take a leaf out of their book from that example. When we put our minds to something, we can achieve a lot and maintain the high quality of life in our country.

With this in mind, the government wants to address, together with you, the concerns that were so clearly reflected in the November election results, and that affect people’s livelihoods. There are acute concerns about migration, the overheated housing market and family income. There are concerns about the future: about the economy, about the quality and accessibility of healthcare and education, about energy supply and climate, and about our national and international security in a world full of threats and unrest. Moreover, there are underlying concerns that affect the connection between people and trust in the government.

Many of the acute problems we face, such as migration, housing, agriculture and nature, can be traced back to an overwhelming complexity of too many rules, procedures and a need for control that has grown over the years. But the policy reality from the drawing board often does not fit in with everyday practice. People are too often told that something is not possible or allowed for formal reasons, which makes them feel like they are losing control over their own lives. Increasingly, things that should be very normal are also disappearing from view, such as a roof over your head, an adequate income or a familiar living environment. This lack of certainty gnaws away at people’s independence. It also leads to mutual irritability and a loss of solidarity.

It is precisely this development that the government wants to break through in the coming period. Step by step, with energy and enthusiasm, but also pragmatically and with a sense of reality. It wants to face problems that have been stuck for too long and to loosen them, with understandable, explainable and above all feasible policy. Of course within the rules of the rule of law and with the honest message that the possibilities are always limited, for example spatially, ecologically, financially or due to staff shortages. The starting point of government policy must be: what is possible? How can we simplify things and get the basics in order? And how can the government give people more space and certainty instead of less, so that they can shape their own future with strength and confidence?

This different way of looking at things also requires a different, more service-oriented government. A government that gives citizens space and trust. But also to all civil servants and other employees in the public service, who ensure that our country remains safe, clean, accessible, smart and vital. The government programme that was presented last week contains an extensive agenda on good governance and a strong constitutional state. It is no coincidence that this starts with the urgent need to better protect citizens and prevent them from getting into trouble in the future due to government actions. A single mistake should no longer immediately cause people problems. It is important that implementers in the public service, municipalities and provinces, citizens and advisory councils are involved in policy-making at an early stage. This should also lead to more attention and more space for regional uniqueness and qualities. ‘Every region counts’ is an important starting point in the government programme. Other proposals concern more openness, renewal of the electoral system, better laws and stronger protection of fundamental rights. This agenda of good governance and legal certainty naturally extends to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, as a basis for joint work on future prosperity and well-being.

In terms of policy content, the government programme includes numerous topics and proposals that will be presented to you in the coming year and beyond. This is work in progress, with plans that have been worked out in more or less concrete terms. But the balance between acting now and setting out the lines for the future is reflected in every chapter of the government programme.

To start with, this is very clear in the financial proposals on income, expenditure and purchasing power. The clear agreement for the long term is that the government’s budget will remain in order through a strict budgetary policy. This creates clarity, but also forces us to make choices now that there are some immediate setbacks. In the short term, it is important that everyone gets a little more to spend as soon as possible. All groups can expect a plus in purchasing power next year, including workers with a middle income, but also people with lower incomes and pensioners. The government will continue to work with municipalities and others to reduce poverty and tackle debts, for example by reducing the rate at which collection costs increase. A thorough revision and simplification of the entire income support system, including allowances, should lead to greater income security. It should also prevent people from falling between the cracks due to system errors. The recovery operation in the allowance affair and the damage repair in Groningen will be continued with the highest priority.

One of the most important topics in the government programme is control over migration. As a result of asylum migration, family reunification, labour migration and study migration, the Dutch population has grown to eighteen million inhabitants much faster than expected. This puts great pressure on our facilities and our way of living together. The problems in the asylum chain are particularly urgent. The government will do everything in its power in the shortest possible time to reduce the number of asylum applications and to tackle dire situations such as in Ter Apel and Budel. Key words are faster, stricter and more modest. Think of an accelerated procedure and modest reception for disadvantaged asylum seekers, and a tit-for-tat policy for people from safe countries who cause a nuisance. The government is working on a temporary asylum crisis law, which will give the strict and modest approach a greater chance of success. Agreements with migration countries to put a stop to human trafficking, human smuggling and irregular migration routes are given high priority. The Netherlands is also committed to this in Europe. On the road to the introduction of the European Asylum and Migration Pact in 2026, the Netherlands will apply a much stricter admission regime. Failure to cooperate in return will be punishable and the conditions for obtaining a Dutch passport will become stricter.

A major and growing social problem is the tightness of the labour market. From technology to public transport, from education to healthcare, from the hospitality industry to horticulture – the acute shortage of staff is felt everywhere. That is why it is important to encourage people who are currently on the sidelines to go to work. Another way to achieve relatively quick results is for part-timers to work longer. The government is working on this, among other things, by focusing on more permanent jobs and ensuring that people who work more actually have more money left at the end of the month. For the future, we need to think more fundamentally about what types of work we do and do not want in the Netherlands, and how that relates to labour migration. The first and foremost thing is that abuses and exploitation of migrant workers must always be combated. In the spring, the government will send you an initial inventory of possible improvements for the labour market of the future.

Of course, staff shortages are also an important issue for entrepreneurs. The government is well aware that the money for our public services is earned in the business community. For that reason alone, entrepreneurs deserve great appreciation and space to spread their wings. It is important to continue working on an attractive business climate. Some of the instruments that the government is using to achieve this are fewer regulations, lower taxes and extra money for innovation via Invest-NL. In general, business policy must become much more predictable. A major business climate summit will take place this autumn to determine together with companies what is necessary and possible. Good accessibility is important for companies in any case, certainly to and from the main ports of Rotterdam and Schiphol. In order to maintain the quality of the Dutch roads, waterways and railways, the largest maintenance task ever will take place in the coming years. Plans have been and are being developed for new infrastructure for the long term, also outside the Randstad, for example the Nedersaksenlijn between Groningen and Enschede.

One of the major problems that companies with expansion plans face is the lack of capacity on the electricity grid. The government wants to tackle this as a priority. The Netherlands is committed to the Paris climate agreement and will continue to make homes and buildings more sustainable, to develop nuclear power stations and wind farms as an energy source for the future, and to work on security of supply. It is important that the energy transition is feasible and affordable for everyone. New opportunities for the future lie in the sustainability of industry and innovations. Green growth starts with the question: what can we do today to harvest later?

The problem of the accumulation of new regulations is perhaps the greatest in agriculture and fisheries. This cabinet wants to do away with the polarised image that food production and biodiversity are opposed to each other in everything. It is precisely the combination of agriculture and nature that has made the Dutch landscape so beautiful for years. The change in thinking and acting that is needed starts with the recognition of the importance of food security in an uncertain world, and with the insight that Dutch farmers are among the most efficient in the world. That is something to be proud of and cherish. The most urgent subject for the short term is the manure crisis, for which you will soon receive a plan of action. A realistic and feasible policy is needed across the board that provides farmers and fishermen with long-term clarity and offers space for agricultural entrepreneurship, without new national heads on international agreements. There will be no forced closure of businesses and the actual state of nature and measured emission figures will be leading in the policy. Target management is a key concept in this. This means that it is up to farmers themselves how they want to achieve the set goals. There is a stimulus budget of five billion euros available to make the necessary transition. And in addition, there is a separate budget of half a billion euros per year for agricultural nature management.

The government also bases its arguments on the broad concept of security of existence for classic government tasks such as security, housing, education and healthcare. The foundation must be in order. And if there is one thing that is fundamental, it is a basic sense of security. It is clear that national and international security are becoming increasingly intertwined. In a world full of hotbeds, cyber attacks, disinformation and increasing threats, the Netherlands cannot possibly guarantee its own security in isolation. Our country has always had an open view of the outside world. That will remain the case, because cooperation within the European Union and NATO is our most important guarantee of prosperity, stability and security. The decision to continue supporting Ukraine serves a direct national interest, both militarily and economically. This also applies to the choice to legally anchor the size of the defence budget. The Dutch rule of law and the international legal order must be protected and strengthened in every possible way. That is why the government will be investing in the police, in the ongoing fight against undermining crime and in defence in the coming period. The NATO summit to be held in The Hague next year once again underlines the international involvement and commitment of the Netherlands.

For the future, the question arises as to how the Netherlands will remain resilient to increasing threats. We must be prepared, for example, for attacks on our digital connections, roads, energy networks, ports and waterworks. But people at home must also arm themselves against a temporary failure of, for example, power and water. For the cabinet, resilience is a very important theme, also in a European context, where we work together on security of supply of energy and raw materials.

Fundamental to people’s livelihood is also a decent roof over your head. The housing crisis is one of the most complex challenges facing the government. After all, it is not just about the number of homes to be built, but also about the distribution of scarce space. Numerous legitimate interests compete with each other for priority: the construction of homes, schools and businesses. Infrastructure, energy supply and water safety. Agriculture, nature and defence. Space is needed everywhere. Added together, this does not fit into one Netherlands. The Spatial Policy Memorandum that the government will present before next summer must provide guidance for the answer to the question of how to distribute scarce space as fairly as possible. It is beyond dispute that more and faster construction is necessary. The goal is to add one hundred thousand homes per year. An additional five billion euros will be available for this in the coming years, plus another two and a half billion euros for the development of new neighbourhoods. This year, the government will make enforceable agreements with fellow authorities, investors such as pension funds and housing associations at a national housing summit. It is crucial that procedures are shortened and that the same rules apply everywhere locally.

In education, the foundation in order means that a lot of attention must be paid to the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. You will soon receive the main points of the Education Quality Recovery Plan, which ties in with current initiatives to improve basic skills. Education is served by peace and continuity, not by major new experiments. In further education after secondary school, the government wants to pay more attention to education and research focused on what the Netherlands needs, from vocational education to university. Sharp choices are needed in this, for both substantive and financial reasons. One of those choices is to reduce the number of foreign students and make Dutch the norm again in higher education.

Our health is the most important thing we have, which makes healthcare invaluable. The deductible will be frozen and more than halved from 2027 to a maximum of 165 euros per year. The aim is to make access to healthcare more equal. Not people’s wallets, but the urgency of their healthcare needs should be central. The proposed cutbacks in elderly care have been taken off the table for next year. In order to prevent the staff shortage in healthcare from becoming unmanageable, it is urgent to halve the administrative time, so that more time remains for patients. This requires innovations in the field of digitalisation and smart use of artificial intelligence. In addition, technical aids can still save a lot of healthcare time for personal attention, both at home and in the hospital. The existing healthcare agreement will be given concrete form in the coming period, for example when it comes to keeping regional hospitals open. Because prevention is better than cure, prevention remains high on the agenda.

Members of the States General,

In our complex society, the answer to the question of what is possible is often not easy to give. Yet it is a task for everyone who bears political or administrative responsibility. Because if the rules of a country are no longer manageable for large groups of people, government policy overshoots its target. With this idea in mind, the government wants to work step by step on concrete solutions that contribute to certainty, trust and connection. In this task, it can only succeed in close cooperation with you. You may feel supported in your important work by the realization that many wish you wisdom and pray with me for strength and God’s blessing for you.

Princess Beatrix of The Netherlands

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