A youth parliament to give youngsters a voice in political developments, €2bn to stimulate local councils and housing corporations to build more homes and the introduction of company bike – as opposed to car – schemes are among the government’s plans for 2020. Here are the main points:

Taxes and income

• Spending power to rise across the board, people in jobs will benefit most
• Tax on cigarettes and rolling tobacco will rise by €1 on April 1
• More parents to qualify for extra child benefits, cost to the cabinet €500m
• From July 1, new fathers to get five weeks paternity leave, paid at 70% of salary*
• The state pension (AOW) age will remain 66 years and four months*
• Employers will pay lower jobless benefit (ww) premiums for workers on permanent contracts, more for people on flexible contracts*
• Healthcare benefits to rise €67 a year for single people, €95 for couples
• The tax on energy will rise but bills will be cut by €100 for the average household via a tax back scheme
• Tax break for freelancers to be reduced from €7,030 to €5,000 by 2028*

Healthcare

• €50m on top of earlier announced €370 to train healthcare workers
• More money for family doctors and psychiatric care
• €1bn up to 2021 for youth social services
• Maximum ceiling for drugs prices to be reduced by changing calculation method and pressuring manufacturers

Transport

• Investment in roads to reach almost €3bn, including A9 and A1 improvements
• €100m to keep shipping lanes properly maintained
• Introduction of company bike schemes for commuters from January 2020
• €100m to boost the sale of second hand electric cars up to 2024
• €2.6bn for the railways, including new safety systems
• Introduction of more ‘train every 10 minutes’ services

Education

• €333m to reduce pressure on primary school teachers, €270m for salaries*
• University and college fees to remain at 50% for the first year
• More money for trade schools and for pre-school projects in disadvantaged areas
• €15m to support gifted children
• €5m to stimulate diversity in science

Home affairs

• €1bn to the six big cities to enable local authorities to speed up housing construction
• €1bn to lower taxes paid by housing corporations
• Threshold for social housing to rise to €42,000 for a couple
• Tenants to earn too much for social housing to face rent increases of up to €100 a month
• €50m to develop a clean air agreement with local and provincial governments
• A ‘youth parliament’ to give youngsters a voice in politics will be established
• New rules will be introduced for political party (online) campaigning

Defence

• Defence spending to reach €11bn or 1.35% of GDP
• Investment in defence staff recruitment to solve 8,000 structural shortages
• Better contracts, investment in equipment
• Strengthening of national cybersecurity by increasing the capacity of the military intelligence service MIVD and the Defense Cyber Command

Justice and security

• More tools for police and the public prosecutor to confiscate criminal earnings
• Fines for internet providers if online child pornography is not removed from servers and computers within 24 hours
• €95m extra for courts
• More limits on access to free legal advice and support*
• Sanctions for people who launch cyber attacks
• A structural €65m to speed up asylum procedures and and extra €35m in 2020
• Structural deals with other European countries on accommodating refugees to make sure the protection of refugees is the same European wide
• Prevention of illegal immigrationand people trafficking in cooperation with the countries of passage in North Africa

Climate and nature

• Further develop plans to phase out the use of gas in private homes*
• More experiments to deal with excess rainwater
• €300m a year up to 2030 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and €60m for innovation and pilot projects
• €80m to stimulate circularity in construction projects

Economic affairs

• A €7.5m investment in new technologies, such as solar cells, artificial intelligence and biotechnology in 2020, and an annual €10m from 2021
• €65m to be made available to start-ups between 2019 and 2023 to be distributed via the TechLeap NL programme
• A stronger market position for farmers by preventing unfair trading practices
• Promotion of circular farming

*Announced earlier