Junior culture minister Halbe Zijlstra has told MPs he is pressing ahead with plans to chop €200m from spending on the arts and culture without any amendments.

During Tuesday’s debate, MPs from the coalition parties urged the minister to spare southern orchestras and a Frisian theatre group from the cuts.
Zijlstra told MPs he was ‘sympathetic’ to their pleas but that he did not plan to make any money available to support the threatened institutions. The cuts amount to 25% of the total arts and culture budget.
The minister also said he was angry at the way the government’s plans are being misrepresented, saying some €700m will still be invested in the arts and culture.
Prior to the debate, some 7,000 artists, theatre lovers and supporters of the arts gathered close to parliament to protest about the cuts. At least 14were arrested after a group of demonstrators moved in to the parliamentary complex itself. All were later released.