International

The failed experiment with the student loan system is finally coming to an end. Good news for new students who plan to start studying in September 2023. They will no longer have to get into sky-high debts. Students planning to start studying after the summer of this year will unfortunately still have to borrow. The SP believes that all students who fell under the student loan system should be fully compensated. 
During today's Question Time, SP MP Peter Kwint asked the minister whether he intends to fully compensate all students who are the victims of this failed experiment, including those who will be starting their studies after the summer.

It was a rather small news item. Investor Blackstone let at least 330 houses in Amsterdam stand empty. All this while we are facing a deep housing crisis and many people cannot find a suitable and affordable home. Blackstone claims that it wants to renovate the houses. That may sound noble but it is not the whole story. The investor is renovating houses in order to rent them out at much higher prices. In the Amsterdam West-Indische quarter, for example, rents went up from €500 to €2500 per month. Houses are a profit model for investors like Blackstone and co. Home seekers are the losers. And so is society as a whole. Blackstone has a trick up its sleeve to avoid paying any profit tax in the Netherlands. Housing prices are pushed up by investors, deepening the housing crisis. A new study by SOMO, commissioned by the SP, shows that Blackstone has no added value. High time to ban Blackstone en co.