Not this Golden Coach, but also this year the Glass Coach was used to transport the royal couple through the city center of The Hague to the Ridderzaal for the speech from the throne. And that produced beautiful images like every year.
The carriage, a speech from the throne, a hat parade, a room full of nervous politicians and hundreds of Orange fans, in short, the recipe for one thing: Prince's Day. Although the third Tuesday of September may seem the same every year, this year there is clear attention for the possible consequences of Brexit for Dutch companies.
The cabinet wants to show that things are going well in the Netherlands.
The speech from the throne is not the own words of King Willem-Alexander, but of course of Prime Minister Rutte and his team. It is clear in the Speech from the Throne that money is not everything in people's lives and other circumstances can have much more impact in life.
"Good facilities cost money, and that has to be earned first“, According to King Willem-Alexander.
From 2021, large Dutch companies will have to pay a substantial CO2 tax. By introducing this levy, the Cabinet hopes that companies will become more sustainable more quickly. In short, it means that companies have to pay for the CO2 they emit.
Next year, the cabinet expects further progress, but after that it expects more moderate growth. The tone of the Speech from the Throne was positive, but the cabinet warns that less favorable times are ahead.
75 years after Operation Market Garden started, we are a country of compromise.
“People still have something left for someone else, even though contradictions sometimes seem to predominate on social media and in the public debate. But the Netherlands remains a country of compromise. People want to participate and contribute from Willemstad to Amsterdam. That binds us. We should cherish that. Preserving and strengthening everything that has been achieved is an obligation to the generations after us. ”
Public administrations need to be much better and higher on the agenda.
Government services should be much higher on the agenda. Implementing organizations such as the Tax and Customs Administration and the UWV are the face of the government. People meet the government there.
They can simply expect to be well served at the government counter. The causes of the current problems are diverse: outdated ICT, staff shortages and too much detailed policy, which makes implementation too complicated.
Employees of implementing organizations are sometimes faced with an impossible task and the human dimension disappears from view. The structural improvements needed require time and a coherent approach, for which the government will make proposals.
The Cabinet again presented beautiful economic figures this year, but in recent years despite the promises on Budget Day it turned out that the improvement in purchasing power was disappointing for many Dutch people.
