Fleur Agema wrote that the VVD was putting pressure on the budget to make cuts, not because of a deficit above 3 percent: this would amount to 2.3 percent in 2026. According to Agema, the reason was that the party wanted to spend an additional 19.5 billion euros structurally on defense, after Schoof had promised that to Trump at the NATO summit. Agema stated that there were other costly expenditures besides defense and that the national debt was low, but that the VVD did not want to increase it. She called that a missed opportunity. Although borrowing would lead to higher interest burdens, it could finance necessary incidental expenses. Domestic investments, unlike expenditures on foreign arms industry, would stimulate economic growth, according to her. #VVD #begroting #defensie (translated)






