The D66 party in Amsterdam has pulled back its support for the controversial plan to establish a new Erotic Center on Europaboulevard. The party’s draft program for the 2026 municipal elections makes no mention of the “Erotic Center,” raising serious doubts about the future of the centralized workspace designed for sex workers, according to Parool.
Parool obtained a copy of Amsterdam D66’s election program, to be presented on Saturday. The document emphasizes D66’s preference for “multiple small-scale venues” for sex workers, alongside “love hotels” and the possibility of working safely from home. “Where the freedom and empowerment of sex workers are central,” it states. “This approach ensures a variety of secure workspaces without depending on one single project.”
By doing so, D66 has explicitly distanced itself from Mayor Femke Halsema’s proposal to create one centralized Erotic Center on Europaboulevard for 100 sex workers, a project she has been advocating since 2019.
In previous years, D66 had supported the plan in both its election manifesto and city council votes. The shift now leaves the Erotic Center without majority support in the council. GroenLinks and PvdA remain the only parties backing the project, while most of the opposition has long opposed it.
According to sources cited by Parool, D66 notified Mayor Halsema earlier this month about the change. Halsema is reportedly displeased with the party’s reversal. Officially, her spokesperson told Parool that the mayor would not comment, emphasizing that “election programs are the responsibility of political parties.”
D66 has not publicly detailed its reasoning for withdrawing support at this stage. Unofficially, insiders indicate that while coalition agreements had previously constrained them, the upcoming elections offer more flexibility. They also cite growing uncertainty, high costs, and political debate as factors in their loss of confidence in the Europaboulevard project.
