Successful Dutch performers such as Caro Emerald and Wouter Hamel have had thousands of euros in subsidies for performances outside the Netherlands, the AD reports on Monday.

The money comes from a special performing arts fund Fonds Podiumkunsten. Pop musicans are allowed to ask twice a year for subsidies for foreign concerts – a maximum of €5,000 inside Europe and €7,500 further afield. The money is to be spent on travel costs.

Emerald was given €5,000 to help fund a concert in Britain last year while Hamel has had €17,000 to help pay for concerts in China and Korea, the AD says. Dutch American singer-songwriter Laura Jansen, who now lives in Los Angeles, had €7,500 to fund a concert in China, the AD says.

In total the fund has €600,000 to spend but this is being raised to €800,000.

VVD parliamentarian Arno Rutte has called for the subsidies for established names to be scrapped. ‘It is ridiculous that the ministry is paying for trips for artists who have already made it,’ he told the AD.

He plans to raise the issue with culture minister Jet Bussemaker later on Monday.