The right-wing Dutch government published more details about its plans for the next three years on Friday, with an emphasis on cutting the number of asylum seekers but little else new of note.

The document, running to 137 pages, is an expansion of the strategy plan published in May this year, before the ministers had been appointed. Since the cabinet was sworn in in June, ministers have been fleshing out the initial proposals with more detail about how they would work in practice.

“We have to get a move on,” prime minister Dick Schoof said. “We cannot wait any longer. Not everything we tackle today will be solved tomorrow.”

The cabinet, he said, has limited financial resources. “We can’t do everything,” he said. “Healthy government finances are crucial for prosperity and this means we need to make choices. We are doing this for future generations, for our children and grandchildren.”

The most concrete proposals centre on asylum, with the government planning to call a crisis in the near future, which would enable it to bypass parliament and implement a number of measures that ministers hope will reduce the number of new arrivals.

These include making it more difficult to bring in new family members, scrapping legislation requiring all local authority areas to take their fair share of asylum seekers, and making accommodation more “basic”.

Schoof admitted that there still needs to be a discussion about the basis for declaring the refugee crisis to be an “emergency”. “We’ll deal with the motivation later,” he said.

Some controversial measures that had been planned have been reduced in scope or dropped altogether, such as cutting spending on young university researchers with the loss of 1,200 jobs.

The plan to increase value added tax on books will go ahead, but schools will get some form of compensation to make up the difference. The rest of the tax increase on theatres, museums, sports and concerts remains unchanged, as does the package of cuts facing primary and secondary education.

Rob Jetten, leader of the Liberal democratic party D66, said it was ironic that Schoof said in his introduction that the government was taking these steps for “our children and grandchildren”.  “This is the biggest cut in education spending in years,” he told broadcaster NOS.

“We had expected more after 10 months,” he said, referring to the lack of substance in some plans. “There is a lot of research that still needs doing.”

Help for big companies

Frans Timmermans, leader of the GroenLinks-PvdA alliance, which is the biggest opposition party, said there is no reason why the government has to give tax cuts to big companies, as it plans to do. Ministers, he said, could have made different choices.

In short, the agreement contains “not much news and there is no vision for the future,” Timmermans said.

Next week, the various ministries will publish their individual budgets, which go into more detail about their spending plans for the coming year.

The main points of the agreement.

Immigration and asylum

• Border controls are to be tightened up in line with Schengen options.
• The cabinet plans to declare an asylum emergency as soon as possible, which will enable it to take more steps to reduce the inflow of refugees. Parliament and the senate’s approval will not be required.
• Family reunions of refugees will be limited to children under the age of 18 and there will be limits to the number of appeals refugees whose claim is rejected can make.
• Refugees can only bring in close family members after two years if they have proper housing and a stable income.
• Legislation that requires all local authorities to take their fair share of refugees will be scrapped.
• Accommodation for refugees will be made “more basic”
• Recognised refugees will no longer automatically get a permanent residency permit after five years and will have to return to their country of origin if it is safe.
• The Netherlands will ask EU for an opt-out so it can deviate from European refugee treaties.
• Measures will be looked at to reduce the demand for low skilled foreign workers by steering the economy
• Ministers are investigating various measures to reduce the number of people coming to the Netherlands as knowledge migrants, such as increasing the salary requirements.

Education

• Subsidies for free school meals will continue and schools will get compensation for the introduction of higher value-added tax on school books.
• Earlier plans to scrap the budget for 1,200 young researchers have been ditched.
• Measures to double the fees for students who take too long to complete their degrees have not yet been finalised.
• A plan will be developed to improve basic skills in education and tackle the shortage of teachers. It is due to be published next spring.
• More money will be made available for schools in rural areas so they can remain open even if pupil numbers fall.
• Other education cuts, such as an end to subsidies for not streaming classes in the first year or two of secondary school, will go ahead.
• Universities and colleges are to be encouraged to strengthen the use of the Dutch language and to limit the numbers of international students. That is slated to save €293 million a year.

Work and social security

• Spending power will rise by an average of 0.7% next year, well below earlier forecasts.
• The cabinet wants more people to have permanent jobs and to combat sham self-employment.
• Staffing agency employees and temporary workers will get better legal protection.
• The rules for supplementary benefits, such as housing benefit, will be made simpler.
• All working parents will get an income-related payment to help with childcare.
• Ministers promise everyone who was a victim of the childcare benefit scandal will have compensation during the life of this cabinet.
• Taxes for companies will be cut by a structural €1.5 billion a year.
• Extra support for firms will focus on innovation and training so that the reliance on foreign workers can be reduced.

Defence and foreign affairs

• The Netherlands will contine to support Ukraine “politically, militarily, financially and morally” and “as long as necessary”.
• A commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence will be anchored in law.
• The cabinet will continue to support a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• The Netherlands will remain a constructive EU partner “also to achieve our own goals”.
• Major cuts will go ahead in the aid budget and aid projects which are funded will focus on food security and water management.
• The 22% cut in spending on embassies and consulates will be reduced to 10%.

Good governance and security

• The cabinet will start proceedings to change the constitution and introduce a constitutional court next year. The court will then check new legislation to make sure it is in line.
• Within a year the government will present legislation bringing in a form of constituency voting in the Netherlands, based on 10 to 12 regions.
• The plans to cut the civil service by 22% will go ahead.
• The cabinet will also invest more in the AIVD and MIVD security services.

Crime

• Punishment for terrorist offences will be increased.
• There will be a ban on undesirable foreign funding of associations, foundations, religious organisations and “informal” organisations.
• The maximum sentences for 14 and 15-year-olds will be increased.
• The cabinet will work on options to make parents responsible for their children’s crimes.

The document does not say anything about the switch to a new pension system, which is due to come into effect in 2027.