AMSTERDAM (MNI) – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte presented the
resignation of his government to Queen Beatrix on Monday after the
collapse of a parliamentary partnership with a far-right-wing party amid
disagreements about cutting the country’s budget deficit.
Rutte, a member of the liberal VVD party, unexpectedly announced on
Saturday that negotiations with coalition partners over budget cuts for
2013 had abruptly ended after seven weeks of talks.
The breakdown came of the after the far-right Euro-skeptic Party
for Freedom, which was not in the coalition but had until then supported
the government, refused to agree with the proposed cuts.
Geert Wilders, head of the party, said that the cuts were too
severe, especially for people on pensions. He also objected to pressure
on the Dutch government to meet its European deficit targets.
“The Netherlands shouldn’t submit to pressure from Brussels,”
Wilders said.
The cuts are necessary to get the country’s budget deficit to 3% of
GDP by the end of 2013. The Netherlands had previously been a adamant
supporter of a strict European policy on budget deficits.
Dutch leaders are discussing the possibility of having elections in
the next few months, but have not decided on a date. Some are pointing
to June 27 as a possible date.
Finance minister Jan Kees de Jager said he hoped “that the
parliament will ask the outgoing cabinet to keep going with the measures
to cut the deficit.”
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