A majority of Dutch political parties are considering introducing an upper limit for donations, following recent allegations that major donors have tried to influence policy.

Former CDA MP Pieter Omtzigt suggested that several major donors, including one who gave the party €1.2m, may have had an interest in the economic policy sketched out by CDA leader and finance minister Wopke Hoekstra.

D66 received a donation of €1m from a Dutch tech millionaire to fight its election campaign. Such large donations are extremely rare in the Netherlands.

According to Nieuwsuur, the VVD, CDA and Volt are considering introducing a top limit and GroenLinks is working on draft legislation which would anchor this in law. However, the move is resisted by parties that depend on large donations such as D66, Geert Wilders’s PVV group and Forum voor Democratie.

Currently, all donations to political parties of over €4,500 have to be registered.

In 2019, the cabinet agreed that Dutch political parties should be banned from accepting funding from sources outside the EU.