AMSTERDAM (MNI) – Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told
parliament on Tuesday that the government’s fall did not lessen the
urgency of acting to support the flagging economy.

“The economy is stalling, unemployment is threatening to rise, and
the national debt is growing more quickly than we can afford,” Rutte
said before a parliamentary debate. “These are the facts, and we cannot
ignore them.”

Rutte tendered his government’s resignation to Queen Beatrix on
Monday after the collapse of a partnership with the right-wing Party for
Freedom on Saturday over a disagreement about cutting the budget
deficit to 3% of GDP by next year.

New elections are expected to be held in September. The government
plans to send a letter to the European Commission before April 30
detailing how it will tackle the deficit.

Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), told
parliament that he broke off deficit negotiations “for the good of the
common Dutch citizen, not for the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.” He
warned that the planned cuts would “destroy our economy.” In contrast,
he said deficit targets of 4% of GDP in 2013 and 3% in 2015 would be
acceptable.

The majority leader for Rutte’s liberal VVD party, Stef Blok, said
in reply to questions from parliament that “we are absolutely prepared
to negotiate with other parties on changes in the budget we almost had
agreed with PVV. However, the total amount of cuts will still have to be
in the region of the proposed E18 billion.”

“We are prepared to tackle the problem of tax write-offs” for home
mortgage, Blok said.

Klaas Knot, governor of the Dutch central bank, has repeatedly
urged the government to revisit the fiscal incentives that encourage
home buyers to take on big mortgages that exceed the value of their
homes.

Rutte told parliament that “inaction is not in the Netherlands’
interests.” He said that “what happened on Saturday did not lessen the
urgency of acting. The problems we face are too serious for that.”

— Paris newsroom; +331 4271 5540

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