De werkelijke inhoud van de Brief van dhr. Rehm, die toch haaks staat op het rooskleurige verhaal van Rutte en de Jager, want dhr. Rehm geeft feitelijk vernietigende kritiek, zeker als je beseft dat dat soort communicatie uitermate hoffelijk is…
Ik sta er werkelijk van te kijken dat geen van de Journalisten, die dat stuk toch echt wel gelezen zullen hebben, er iets van durft te zeggen, en geen enkele kritische vraag meer stellen, over de discrepantie tussen wat het Kabinet beweert, en wat er werkelijk in de brief staat…
Hoe heeft dit Kabinet de Media eigenlijk in de tang, welk chantage middel gebruiken ze ?
De Centrale Conclusie:
In het nederlands,: “De door Nederland ingeleverde plannen zijn grotendeels relevant, echter zijn meerdere oplossingen onvoldoende onderbouwd en/of uitgewerkt, en in sommige gevallen is het onbegrijpelijk hoe de plannen het (economische) probleem op zouden moeten lossen.”
Overall assessment
The most pressing challenges that the Netherlands faces are in the areas of fiscal consolidation, the long-term sustainability of public finances (in particular pensions), the labour market, innovation policy, education, and the housing market.
Following the recent worsening of the fiscal outlook, predominantly due to unfavourable cyclical developments, it is crucial to secure additional consolidation efforts while safeguarding long-term growth drivers from possible additional spending cuts.
As regards the pension system, the Netherlands has made a reform proposal aimed at gradually raising the statutory retirement age to 66 in 2019 and to 67 in 2024, linking it to life expectancy thereafter.
The proposals to increase the statutory retirement age are not yet adopted and details of an intended increase in the retirement age, especially in the second pillar, have as yet not been filled in.
Another important structural problem lies in the housing market.
Distortions have built up in both the rental and the property segment which, together with uncertainty about future reforms, weigh increasingly on the recovery of the Dutch economy.
The recently announced measures are a step in the right direction, but fall far short of what is required to address the distortions in the housing market.
The Netherlands is taking measures to increase labour supply, especially of second-income earners, but these could have been more ambitious and are partly offset by cuts in childcare subsidies.
Vulnerable groups are targeted as well, although concrete implementation of the measures is liable to considerable risks.
The Netherlands has implemented a strategy aimed at fostering closer science-business links through its new enterprise policy, but this reduces funding earmarked for fundamental research.
Also, the prioritisation of sectors in the new enterprise policy is weakly underpinned, while overall research and development intensity remains well below the target.
The professed focus of educational policies is to improve quality instead of quantity, but some measures under consideration adversely affect pupils with special educational needs.
On the other hand, the Netherlands can be expected to reach the target committed to for the number of early school leavers.
(hier de eindconclusie)
The policy plans submitted by the Netherlands are for a large part relevant.
However, several measures are insufficiently specified and/or quantified and in some areas, the policy plans fall short of addressing the challenges in a comprehensive way.Moreover, implementation risks are high in view of upcoming elections in September, even though the caretaker government has secured the backing of other parties in Parliament for now.
The Netherlands is committed to complying with the recommendations of the Excessive Deficit Procedure, to further improve the budgetary position towards the medium-term objective, and to ensuring the long-run sustainability of public finances.
It also plans to increase labour market participation, but there are substantial implementation risks.
The strategy for the promotion of private R&D investment is not accompanied by an impact assessment and a monitoring framework.
Vulnerable groups are targeted as well, although concrete implementation of the measures is liable to considerable risks
The Netherlands has implemented a strategy aimed at fostering closer science-business links through its new enterprise policy, but this reduces funding earmarked for fundamental research
Also, the prioritisation of sectors in the new enterprise policy is weakly underpinned, while overall research and development intensity remains well below the target
The professed focus of educational policies is to improve quality instead of quantity, but some measures under consideration adversely affect pupils with special educational needs
The policy plans submitted by the Netherlands are for a large part relevant. However,
several measures are insufficiently specified and/or quantified and in some areas, the policy plans fall short of addressing the challenges in a comprehensive way.
Moreover, implementation risks are high in view of upcoming elections in September, even though the caretaker government has secured the backing of other parties in Parliament for now.
The Netherlands is committed to complying with the recommendations of the Excessive Deficit Procedure, to further improve the budgetary position towards the medium-term objective, and to ensuring the long-run sustainability of public finances. It also plans to increase labour market participation, but there are substantial implementation risks.
The strategy for the promotion of private R&D investment is not accompanied by an impact assessment and a monitoring framework.
Recent economic developments
In the second half of 2011 the Dutch economy experienced a sharp downturn, recording negative quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.4 % in the third quarter and 0.7 % in the fourth quarter. Both quarterly growth rates are significantly lower than the corresponding projections of 0.1 % and 0.0 % in the Commission services’ 2011 Autumn forecast.
Economic outlook
For 2012, the outlook for growth remains dim. The Commission services’ 2012 Spring forecast projects real GDP to decrease by 0.9 %.
The growth rate of private consumption — already negative for four consecutive quarters in 2011 — is expected to remain negative in 2012, as a result of fiscal consolidation measures, mainly affecting households, and negative wealth effects.
Economic growth is expected to return to positive territory in 2013, but only at a modest rate of 0.7 %, with net exports being the sole significant driving force. These projections are based on a no-policy-change assumption. The impact of additional consolidation measures, agreed at the end of April, is not included in the baseline forecast.
Procedural and governance issues
The Netherlands has ensured that its national reform programme and stability programme are consistent and follow the agreed guidelines, except for fiscal targets beyond 2013, which are missing.
Both documents include a large number of measures that either have not yet been implemented or still are in a conceptual phase and are not presented in detail.
2.2. Challenges
The Dutch economy was deeply affected by the financial and economic crises, causing a
severe contraction in 2009. Since then, the recovery has been gradual at best, with
growth falling back into negative territory at the end of 2011, and the growth outlook
remains dim. This suggests that underlying problems are of a structural nature and that low growth is not only a cyclical phenomenon, and calls for a fundamental policy
response which addresses underlying structural risks to long-term competitiveness and sustainability. The economy is in need of far-reaching structural reforms in several areas (among which the labour and housing markets, pensions and public finances) in order to relaunch itself on a path of sustainable growth.
Structural reforms would not only make the Netherlands stronger in the medium to long term, but would also have an immediate positive impact by reducing the uncertainty that is at present looming over the Dutch economy. Against this background, while the challenges as identified in the 2011 European Semester remain, by and large, relevant for the Netherlands, the current economic situation has made dealing with them far more pressing.
As regards short-term fiscal efforts, it is crucial to safeguard long-term growth drivers from possible additional spending cuts. In particular, although education budgets have risen slightly in nominal terms in recent years, real expenditure on education is under pressure, threatening the quality of future human
capital resources, which are a precondition for sustainable growth.
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