Senators have ordered aid minister Reinette Klever to restore the link between the international development budget and GDP after this year’s cuts have gone through.

The upper house approved Klever’s budget for 2025, which includes a reduction of €300 million from not increasing spending in line with GDP, but said the move must be a one-off.

“This is a clear indication from us to restore the link,” ChristenUnie senator Tineke Huzinga-Heringa, who submitted the motion, said. “The cabinet will have some explaining to do if it does not carry out the motion.”

The opposition parties GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, CDA, SP, SGP, PvdD, Volt en OPNL voted for the ChristenUnie motion, giving it a majority of 39 seats. Coalition party NSC has also voice support for the idea, but it has no members in the senate.

Aid agencies feared that the total budget would be cut by around €2 billion a year if the link was not restored. Even before the cuts the Netherlands’ spending on international development had shrunk to 0.55% of GDP, below the United Nations target of 0.7%.

Klever has pledged to reform the department’s spending priorities so it focuses on programmes that directly benefit Dutch interests, such as promoting trade and easing the pressure on the asylum system.

She has cut grants for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) by €200 million a year as part of a drive to save €2.4 billion annually by 2027.

The cuts have particularly affected large international NGOs such as Unicef, whose allocation has been halved. Klever has labelled the organisations “bureaucratic and not always efficient” and said she favours working with smaller local partners.