Noting that:
The municipality of Groningen explicitly excludes students from various municipal schemes solely because they are students;
The municipality previously made this distinction with the energy allowance established by the central government;
Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution states that all persons in the Netherlands shall be treated equally in equal circumstances. Discrimination on the grounds of religion, belief, political opinion, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or on any other grounds whatsoever shall not be permitted;
The Dutch Equal Treatment Act (Algemene wet gelijke behandeling, Awgb) prohibits making distinctions when offering social protection, unless the difference in treatment is justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary;
Considering that
In August 2023, the District Court of Northern Netherlands ruled regarding the energy allowance that the exclusion of students in the policy rules of the municipality of Groningen violated the prohibition of discrimination and the principle of equality;3
The court also ruled that the distinction between students and non-students as made by the
municipal executive only partially meets the requirements of effectiveness and is not proportional;
Because student finance qualifies as a prior provision, a large proportion of students already cannot qualify for municipal schemes such as the white goods scheme;
Other municipalities, such as Leeuwarden, do not exclude students from municipal schemes;
Declares that:
The municipality must adhere to the prohibition of discrimination and the principle of equality.
Requests the municipal executive to:
Identify in the short term which municipal social schemes students are currently excluded from;
Assess in which of these cases it is likely that a court would likewise rule that the prohibition of discrimination or the principle of equality is being violated;
Outline a cost estimate of the financial impact of no longer excluding students from these schemes;
Inform the municipal council about this in Q1 2025;