The election campaign has entered its final week and Dutch voters are being bombarded by campaign issues. The economy, foreigners, tax-relief on mortgage interest, health care; opinions flood in from all corners and there’s no escape from politicians or pundits.
But what really annoys Dutch voters? According to three average Dutch people, bureaucracy is public enemy number one.
Gerda de Birk considers herself a happy person. Her husband runs a house painting business and she chose to stay at home and raise their three children. “I haven’t got time to work,” she jokes to her friends. She is certainly not a complaining voter, but she is very concerned about one issue: health care.
“It’s been made so complicated. If you go to a hospital then you have to go here, there and everywhere before you actually get to see a doctor. I think it could be run far more efficiently, with far less waiting. There are so many rules and regulations; the country is ruled by regulations, it’s so frustrating. It makes people a bit numb; they don’t have to think of themselves any more. People should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions.”
Cerebral haemorrhage
Gerda’s mother had a cerebral haemorrhage when she was 60 and suddenly needed care and support. Gerda had to arrange it and found herself drowning in a sea of forms, referral letters and confusing regulations. “You have to deal with that mindless bureaucracy when all your thoughts are focused elsewhere, on the person who is sick.”
The health care situation has much in common with that in the educational system and the huge number of tests that her daughter has to take at primary school. Everything has to be measurable and measured. The vast battery of tests means that teachers have very little time for the pupils or teaching creative subjects. Gerda is still not sure who will get her vote; most of the parties are either concentrating on other issues or promising pretty much the same thing.
Trendy mopeds
Tom Bodt is an enthusiastic entrepreneur. A few years ago he ‘discovered’ the electric scooter in China. The scooters are still mainly produced in China, but Tom has developed a version for the European market.
It has been a success, but not thanks to the government. “It took me hours to fill in subsidy request forms. I made a tiny mistake with one answer and I didn’t get the grant. Another subsidy was withdrawn without any warning on 31 December.”
State-run banks
Mr Bodt doesn’t need subsidies; he needs banks that give loans. Despite all the government support for the banks, it is still almost impossible to find a bank that will issue credit or underwrite a loan. Tom longs for a state-run bank that will lend him money, but it’s not an issue in any of the election manifestoes. The comparison between Europe and Asia raises his blood to boiling point: “it makes me so angry. I think the Western world is extremely arrogant. We’re pampered, arrogant and lazy. There’s no passion or enthusiasm here, and that’s what it’s all about, passion and enthusiasm, not money.”
Working for a little bit extra
There is no lack of passion in Aaron Bast; a few years ago he had a work-related accident on his moped. Before he fully recovered from the accident, he was fired. Aaron is still in pain and has been declared partially disabled. He receives disability benefits. In order to earn an extra 150 euros a month, he works for a social organisation that sells second-hand goods.
However, due to complicated Dutch regulations, working means that Aaron is financially worse off. “Loads of people say to me, why do you do it, why with all your physical pain, do you keep on working? If I stop working then I lose 150 euros a month, but then I get rent subsidy and I don’t have to pay some taxes. I’d get 80 euros per month more if I didn’t work, but I want to contribute to society and put food on the table for my wife and child. You have to do the best you can with what you’ve got.”
Aaron lies awake at night wondering how he’ll pay the bills this month. He blames the move to the euro for the high prices in the Netherlands. That’s the reason he has decided to vote for Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party – it is the only party considering withdrawing from the joint European currency. Aaron isn’t certain that this will lead to a fall in prices, but he is certain that he’s going to vote.
