Political parties in The Hague are eagerly awaiting the independent verdict on their election manifestos, to be published on Thursday by the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). Its ‘what-if’ scenarios outline the likely economic impact on The Netherlands, should election manifestos be fully implemented by the winning party.
It is expected that the CPB statement will play a prominent role in the campaign leading up to the 9 June general elections. The calculations will show the effects of the parties’ intended policies on employment and government spending during the next term of government, as well as projecting the long-term effects of the policies. The incoming government will need to make cuts in the range of 30 billion euros because of the financial and economic crisis.
Job creation
Draft figures from the CPB report which were released by the political parties on Wednesday show that the conservative VVD’s plans would create an extra 400,000 jobs over the next four years, whereas Labour’s plans would yield 200,000 new jobs.
The latest quarterly report from Statistics Netherlands shows that unemployment was at 379,000 in March. That is 4.9 percent of the Dutch labour force.
Bias
Critics have in the past accused the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis of being biased, although this was never substantiated. The Bureau was created after WWII by a Labour-dominated government. It currently has a virtual monopoly. All major parties contesting the election have put their manifestos before the CPB, except for Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party and Rita Verdonk’s Proud of the Netherlands movement.
