The cutbacks in care for the elderly and the plans for acute care are very likely to be declared controversial by the House of Representatives. This means that these subjects may no longer be dealt with by the outgoing cabinet.
The committee for Health, Welfare and Sport believes that the topics are controversial, it turned out today. The House of Representatives as a whole will take a final decision next week, but it is not expected that this will turn out differently.
The measures that caretaker Minister Helder for Long-Term Care wants to take in elderly care, including nursing home care, are so far-reaching that the MPs believe that the cabinet and the House should not rule over their graves in this respect.
This includes hundreds of millions in discounts that the Rutte IV cabinet wants to implement. Yesterday, hundreds of people demonstrated in The Hague against the cabinet’s plans.
As far as the committee is concerned, the plans of Minister Ernst Kuipers of Public Health regarding acute care will no longer be discussed. Kuipers wants, among other things, to abandon the current 45-minute standard within which an ambulance must take a patient to an emergency room.
Nitrogen
In the field of nitrogen, the House of Representatives does not want to declare anything controversial, it became apparent during the meeting of the Committee for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. This means that the cabinet can continue with the proposed cessation and innovation schemes for farmers.
But it does not mean that the cabinet will go ahead with all the proposed nitrogen plans. The committee only votes on proposals that have already been submitted, and that does not apply to the much-discussed nitrogen law, which should regulate the targets for nitrogen emissions.
This week, all parliamentary committees will draw up a list of subjects that should no longer be discussed. Tomorrow the distribution law will be discussed, which aims to spread the reception of asylum seekers across the country.
The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers called on the House this week to deal with the proposal as quickly as possible, because the situation is dire. Whether the House will go along with this remains to be seen; it is unclear whether there is a majority in favor of declaring the bill controversial.
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