Three of the four negotiating parties did not have their proposals calculated before the elections. However, that does not have to complicate the CPB’s work, Hasekamp thinks. “Of course, new plans or compromise proposals always arise during the formation. So we will have to look at that. But I don’t expect any major problems there.”
It is “actually very common” for the CPB to make a calculation “at the end of the cabinet formation”, Hasekamp emphasizes. This gives the parties insight into the consequences of their plans for the economy, purchasing power, poverty and government finances. That’s not “the whole of reality,” he admits.
The BBB in particular gave this incompleteness as a reason for not having the election manifesto calculated. The party believes that the CPB looks too one-sidedly at the financial picture, and states that policy can also have positive effects that are not easily expressed in money.
BBB leader Caroline van der Plas still believes that, in addition to the costs, the CPB should also look more at what plans will yield in the longer term. She thinks it is “fine” that there is now a calculation, including proposals submitted by her party. Van der Plas does not yet want to say whether she accepts the outcome. “We’ll see what happens.”
