THE HAGUE - The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament wants Dutch holidaymakers who want to go abroad this summer and have not yet been vaccinated to be able to get a free PCR corona test. But the outgoing cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Rutte has so far been reluctant to do so.
Tom van der Lee of GroenLinks finds the cabinet's position "incomprehensible" and "unacceptable". If there is no free test, according to Van der Lee, the young people will not be able to go on holiday abroad.
According to Sjoerd Sjoerdsma (D66), no dichotomy should arise between the elderly and the young. “A family with three children that has not yet been vaccinated will have to pay quite a bit. That is unfair and incorrect, so the required PCR tests must be provided free of charge."
Other parties that want a free test are in any case CDA, SP, Volt, ChristenUnie, PvdA and DENK.
Free PCR tests will be offered to travelers in other EU countries this summer. According to Sjoerdsma, the cabinet can pay the money for the tests from the European corona repair fund.
Prime Minister Rutte said in the debate today that the cabinet still has to consider free PCR tests for holidaymakers. Minister De Jonge will provide more clarity on this in two weeks' time.