Ideology and Issues
The KVP was a Christian-democratic party, which based itself on the Bible and Catholic Dogma.
As such it was proponent of a mixed economy: A strong welfare state should be combined with a free market, with a corporatist organisation. Trade unions and employers' organisations were to negotiate on wages in a Social Economic Council and should make legislation for some economic sectors on themselves, without government intervention, in so called Productschappen.
The state should watch over the morality of the people: divorce should be limited, recreation should be moral (for instance different swimming hours for women and men) and the family should be preserved. Families were to be helped by fiscal policies, such as the "kinderbijslag", support by the government, by the newly set up Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Welfare, and the possibility to buy their own home.
Internationally, the KVP was a staunch proponent of European integration and cooperation with the NATO. The party sought the middle ground in the issue of decolonization: Indonesia and Suriname should be independent countries within a Dutch Commonwealth.
Read more about this topic: Catholic People's Party
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