Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has followed Microsoft chairman and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates in appealing to the Dutch government not to slash its development aid budget by €1 billion a year.
The cut in aid is being proposed as a key element in a €9 billion package of savings aimed at bringing the Netherlands’s budget deficit into line with the euro zone limit of 3 per cent of GDP by 2013.
Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, in particular, is demanding the cut in development aid in return for support on unpopular tax and healthcare reforms, as well as changes to redundancy laws.
Appealing to prime minister Mark Rutte, leader of the Liberals, and deputy prime minister Maxime Verhagen, leader of the Christian Democrats, Archbishop Tutu described the Netherlands as “a pioneer of development aid” – consistently contributing more than the UN target of 0.7 per cent of GDP a year.
The Dutch government is due to give final details of the budget to Brussels by the end of this month. A freeze in public sector salaries and in social welfare are also expected.
