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COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch

Database of national-level responses

Eurofound's COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the crisis, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.

Factsheet for case NL-2020-23/1040 Updated – measures in Netherlands

Loan for the opening of monuments and heritage sites

Opengestelde Monumenten-Lening

Country Netherlands , applies nationwide
Time period Open ended, started on 01 June 2020
Type Other initiatives or policies
Category Supporting businesses to stay afloat
– Access to finance
Author Amber van der Graaf (Panteia) and Eurofound
Case created 17 August 2020 (updated 27 May 2021)

Background information

The Dutch government presented a package of emergency measures to support businesses and workers during the corona crisis. The cultural and creative sector was particularly badly hit by the crisis and this has led to extra measures being taken. On 27 March, the Minister for Education, Culture and Science sent a letter to Parliament explaining the need for and content of the planned measures.

Following this first letter on plans to initiate a package of measures, a few weeks later, the announcement was made (after lobbying form the cultural and creative sector), that more support was needed. The Minister for Education, Culture and science announced on 15 April that more financing would be provided to the sector.

The €300 million reserved for the cultural sector is to be allocated via several instruments; the Open Loan for Monuments is one of these instruments.

Content of measure

This measure is one of the instruments being used to funnel the €300 million to the cultural and creative sectors. The measure targets privately owned, publicly accessible national monuments and heritage sites. This includes churches, windmills, castles, outdoor areas, industrial heritage sites, museum institutes, and city renovation and restoration sites. The measure includes a loan for owners of these types of heritage and monument sites. The loan, granted by the National Restoration Fund (NRF), runs 15 years at 1% interest, varies from €10,000 to €2 million, and has the option for delayed payments. The loan is open until the end of 2020 with a budget or €50 million reserved for the loan by the government.

Updates

The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.

18 May 2021

See case NL-2020-21/980, Open monument loan

Use of measure

No information available yet.

Target groups

Workers Businesses Citizens
Does not apply to workers Sector specific set of companies
Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors Funding
National government
Other social actors (e.g. NGOs)
National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

Trade unions Employers' organisations
Role Consulted Consulted
Form Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

  • Social partners jointly
  • Main level of involvement: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

As with the Extra package of support measures for the cultural sector, the sector had lobbied for more support from the government, showing that their sector is being especially badly hit. Based on consultation and discussion with organisations form the sector and cultural funds, the government decided to add extra financial support to the existing emergency measures for the cultural and creative sectors. The involvement of social partners focused mainly on the design of the measures, though some national funds are involved in the implementation of this measure.

Views and reactions

Given that the social partners lobbied for extra financing for these sectors specifically, it is reasonable to assume that social partners are satisfied with the outcomes. The government has indicated that interaction with social partners has generally been good during the COVID-19 crisis, though more details than this are difficult to identify.

Sectors and occupations

    • Economic area Sector (NACE level 2)
      R - Arts, Entertainment And Recreation R91 Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

  • 27 May 2020: Rijksoverheid, (2020), Infographic aanvullende ondersteuning € 300 miljoen culturele en creatieve sector (www.rijksoverheid.nl)
  • 17 August 2020: Rijksoverheid, (2020), Kamerbrief aanvullende ondersteuning culturele en creatieve sector– April 15th 2020 (www.rijksoverheid.nl)

Citation

Eurofound (2020), Loan for the opening of monuments and heritage sites, case NL-2020-23/1040 (measures in Netherlands), COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, http://eurofound.link/covid19eupolicywatch

Disclaimer: This information has not been subject to the full Eurofound evaluation, editorial and publication process. All information is preliminary and subject to change.