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The Council of State advised the government not to increase traffic fines to cover holes in its budget. Traffic fines are intended to improve road safety, not to close budget deficits, the Council said. The government announced plans to increase traffic fines by 10 percent in the Spring Memorandum, the spring update to the annual budget. Part of the increase (5.7 percent) is annual indexation. The rest is to cover gaps in the budget.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is urging the Cabinet to lower the fines for minor traffic violations. These have gotten so high that the OM fears Netherlands residents will stop paying them, AD reports.

Tenants’ interest organization Woondbond and Aedes, the umbrella organization for housing corporations, are furious about the government’s plan to cut the rent allowance to fund two new laws. One of the laws is the Affordable Rent Act, which the two organizations called inexplicable.

The Dutch government is too expansive in its budgeting policy, reserving too little money for dealing with future crises and moving too many financial deficits forward for future Cabinets to deal with. The Council of State came to this conclusion after studying the Spring Memorandum, the government’s spring update to the national budget.

After years of delay, the municipality of Amsterdam is finally giving the green light for a cable car connection over the IJ river between the Noord and West districts, sources told Parool. Construction should start in 2025, with the cable cars operating from 2027.