International

The SP wants to raise the minimum wage to 16 euros per hour. We want more powers to expropriate property bosses in case of long-term vacancies and we will tackle the market forces in the public sector. SP leader Lilian Marijnissen says the coming elections will be a battle of ideas.

Now that the Hague is cleaning house, we can build up our country again. The Netherlands must not be country where few people make all the profits. We must share profits in a fair way. We must not be a country where the market and the government are the bosses. The people must have the power in a country where politicians are not concerned with themselves, but are representatives of the people and  solve problems together with people.

In the draft election programme of the SP, the party has chosen a radical democratisation of our society. We all understand why people have little faith in politicians if problems are not solved and if people always lose out. That is why we want people to have more influence at work, in their neighbourhood and in the country. Employees are better at knowing what is good for business than shareholders, who think mainly of their short-term profits.

Tenants care about their homes and neighbourhoods, teachers care about their pupils, more than all those expensive managers and consultants. That is why we give workers more power and introduce the binding corrective referendum. That way, people can pull the emergency brake when poor decisions are being made and put pressure on politicians.

Now that the Hague has been given a clean sweep, we are going to rebuild our country. A country where not just a few make all the profits, but where we share fairly.

The number of millionaires is growing rapidly, at the same time the Red Cross is providing food aid. That is why the SP chooses to lower costs for people. By scrapping the own risk, reducing taxes for working people, cheaper groceries, and more. The minimum wage is to go to 16 euros an hour and the state pension and other benefits will go up as a result.

The SP will invest in healthcare. There will be an end to hospital closures and the announced cuts in care in nursing homes will be turned back. Profit distributions in the care sector will be banned, as money for the care sector must go to care, not to investors. The SP is in favour of neighbourhood care homes, growing old in your own neighbourhood at small-scale care locations. This will be adopted throughout the Netherlands.

We will end the housing shortage by lowering rents and building more affordable houses. For housing associations, the tenants will have a say. There will be more possibilities to expropriate property owners in case of long-term vacancies of homes. We will put a temporary stop to labour migration.
Big companies will pay more taxes on their billions of profits and the super-rich on their enormous wealth. There will also be a tax on flash capital in the stock market. We must end money-consuming bureaucracy, market forces and competition. And by nationalising basic services like public transport, energy and childcare, we will ensure that profits made in our country do not go to foreign shareholders but can be used for the benefit of society.

In their new programme, the SP distances itself from climate policies that make households and small and medium-sized firms pay for the costs. An effective climate policy is a fair climate policy. Time after time, costs were put on the backs of ordinary people and the rich and big companies were pampered. That will soon come to an end. No flight tax for people who go on holiday once a year, but a tax for business flyers who fly around the world. No compulsory heat pumps, but collective insulation of houses and investment in solar panels. No road pricing, but working towards free public transport. The SP wants a test of climate justice so that the bill goes where it ought to go and we combat environmental pollution and inequality. The richest 1% creates 10 times more CO2 emissions than the poorest 50%. So, it is clear what the solution is.

The people in Groningen who were harmed by the State and by Shell, the parents who were crushed by the Tax Administration in the benefits scandal. Both scandals could only come about because of a government that is not on the side of the people. It was the SP that stood up shoulder to shoulder with the Groningers and parents in the benefits scandal for justice. Things must be different and can be different, but first we must move away from the ideas and parties that created this distrustful government.

The election manifesto will be discussed in all SP branches in the coming weeks. At the 23 September congress, the final election programme as well as the candidate list will be adopted by SP members.