Hague urged to compensate drop in purchasing power

Junior coalition partner D66 said on Thursday it would be “very understandable” if the government introduced measures to reduce the financial burden on citizens next year to compensate for a predicted drop in purchasing power.

D66 parliamentarian Bert Bakker suggested ministers could use the estimated EUR 1.5 billion windfall in extra natural gas earnings to finance the reductions.

The MP said many members of the public have suffered difficult years in financial terms, partly due to high oil prices. It was these very same high oil prices than helped the State achieve a higher income from natural gas. “The State should let these two factors cancel each other out,” Bakker said.

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