Oh, crystal ball, what is in store for the Netherlands in the coming year? 🔮
Beyond a potential new government, the lowlands has a raft of new changes that are coming into effect in 2024.
Here are some of the biggest, originally reported by Het Parool.
No more flavoured vapes
Hoera! Look, no hate for vapers, but I think we’re all a little sick of walking down the picturesque Dutch streets and suddenly being lost in a cloud of strawberry fog.
Luckily, vapes with candy, fruit, or other sweet flavours will be banned from sale in online and physical shops.
The only vapes that may be sold in 2024 are those with tobacco flavour. This is done in a bid to make e-cigarettes less popular.
Minimum wage increases
If you’re earning minimum wage, congrats! You’re about the get a pay rise.
The statutory minimum wage will increase to €13.27 euros per hour, an increase of about 3.75%.
What’s nice about this is that the Netherlands will move to calculating minimum wage per hour instead of per month.
This previously disadvantaged people who worked a 40-hour work week because they would then earn less.
You’ll pay more for your health insurance
Eek, yep, this definitely isn’t a good change. The required Dutch health insurance that every resident of the Netherlands must have is getting more expensive.
The premiums increase every year, so this isn’t surprising. Most insurers are raising their premium prices by between €7.50 and €9.30.
👉 See how much your health insurance will increase by.
However, if you receive zorgtoeslag (the healthcare allowance), the good news is that this will also increase to a maximum of €154 per month.
Even better, if you think you’ll be paying too much, you can still switch health insurance providers until the end of the year. After that, however, you’re locked in until 2025.
Energy costs will increase
Ja, okay, you’re done hearing about high energy bills. However, there’s more bad news here: the price ceiling that the government offered to reduce the cost of energy bills in 2023 will expire on January 1.
It’s expected that this will cost users €5 to €15 more per month.
Beers and cigarettes get more expensive
Planning to drown your sorrows over rising costs with a beer and a cigarette? Hold up: those prices are also increasing.
The average crate of beer will be €0.50 more expensive in 2024, while a pack of cigarettes will cost you about €10.
Bumming a cigarette off someone? Watch out, you might be getting a Tikkie after. 💰
Tourist buses are banned from Amsterdam city centre
Huge buses overflowing with tourists and driving through Amsterdam will become a thing of the past.
Tourist buses over 7.5 tons will be banned from Amsterdam city centre as of January 1. The ban will remove about 350 to 400 buses from the city.
Instead, tour buses will need to wait outside the Amsterdam city ring. This will make it safer in the city centre for cyclists, pedestrians, and other road users.
There is one exception to the change: the Weesperstraat-Valkenburgerstraat-Kattenburgerstraat route will remain open for tour buses because of the large number of cultural institutions here.
Were you surprised by any of these changes? Tell us in the comments below!
Thought journalism is not about taking sides and letting the readers make their own opinion?!
Well, Rija. .you thought wrong!