After almost six months of negotiations, Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders announced this Wednesday that he had reached an agreement to govern with three other conservative parties. The details have been gradually becoming known and although, during the first hours, all attention was focused on the content of the 26 pages that occupy the political pact, where they detail how they will carry out “the toughest asylum policy in history of the country”, the document on financial issues contains many surprises, especially for the cultural sector.
The next coalition government of the Netherlands intends to raise the VAT applied to books, newspapers and magazines from 9 to 21%, among other cultural goods and services, such as tickets for music and theater concerts, or purchasing works of art. The measure will be applied “as of January 1, 2026,” reads the financial agreement signed by the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), the Citizen Peasant Movement (BBB), the liberals (VVD) and the New Social Contract. (NCS). “The current reduced VAT rate for cinema and daytime recreation is excluded from the increase,” he points out. According to the newspaper Trouw, in the EU, only Bulgaria applies a 21% VAT rate to the press.
In reality, the issue had already been addressed during the campaign and the Central Planning Bureau (CPB), an organization that is responsible, among other things, for evaluating the economic impact of electoral promises to prevent parties from spreading falsehoods, made calculations on the impact that raising VAT would have on the cultural sector. He estimated that it would be 400 million euros, because he did not take into account that the increase would also affect books and the press, both written and digital. Thus, the next Government intends to raise 943 million in this way. DPG, the editorial group to which the newspapers Volkskrant, Trouw and AD belong, have warned that the measure will make access to information difficult for part of the public, precisely when journalism is more necessary than ever for the proper functioning of democracy. .
The professional associations of book distributors, bookstores, publishers and advertisers have issued a joint statement in which they declare themselves “very concerned” about the plans of the next Government. The increase in VAT from 9 to 21% “will lead to an increase in final retail prices and a drop in sales”, precisely “at a time when everyone recognizes the importance of reading” . The Government agreement itself signed by the parties “affirms that priority will be given to improving reading skills and that improving skills in the Dutch language will become a central task of higher education institutions.”
The legislative elections on November 22 in the Netherlands resulted in a landslide victory for the far-right Wilders, a veteran of Dutch politics who, as he confessed that night, had never imagined such a big victory (the PVV took 37 of the 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament, traditionally hyper-fragmented). It has taken almost six months to reach agreements with other parties but this week, when the deadline that the negotiators had imposed on themselves was about to expire, this Wednesday they announced that they had reached an agreement that includes a reduction in personal income tax and different security measures. social court (daycare, elderly care) for which they have had to seek financing.
Apart from books, the press and the cultural sector in general, a VAT of 21% will also be applied instead of 9% to overnight stays in hotels and the taxes applied to games of chance will be raised. The Dutch Public Broadcasting Company (NPO), for its part, will have to tighten its belt, although the blow will be less harsh than it could have been: while the liberals proposed a funding cut of 400 million euros, almost half of its budget average annual total of recent years, Wilders directly wanted to close it and NCS, to close a channel. Finally, the coalition agreement provides for a snip of 100 million euros.
