To Brussels with head held high – just

Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager will soon be able to get a proper night’s sleep. Today, after two days of round-the-clock negotiations, he’ll be able to send Brussels a package of cutbacks ensuring that the Netherlands will satisfy the European Union’s tough budgetary rules - just in the nick of time.
Only two days ago, following the fall of the government, it looked as though the Netherlands would come a cropper in the EU capital.
A relieved Prime Minister Mark Rutte dubbed the budget agreement “an amazing achievement”. It was drawn up by a rag-tag coalition of parties within just 24 hours. It had looked as though the Netherlands, always quick to lecture other countries about budgetary discipline, would itself fall foul of the EU’s rules.
Massive fine
EU member states have until 30 April to demonstrate to the European Commission, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the bloc, that they have their budgets under control. The Netherlands is one of the countries which had to get the budget deficit down to three percent of GDP or less.
It’s a tough rule, pushed by the Netherlands itself, and is designed to tackle Europe’s financial crisis. Six days ago, though, government talks with its partner, the Freedom Party, broke down. The Netherlands faced a huge fine from Brussels if it failed to meet the 30 April deadline.
Political crisis
The man behind the Dutch crisis, PVV Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, withdrew his support for the minority coalition, the government fell and it was complete chaos in The Hague.
Three opposition parties decided to look at the government’s proposed package of cuts to see if they could agree to any of them. Green Left, the small Christian Union party and the D66 democrats worked closely with caretaker Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager. Together they rejected some cutbacks, added others and, to everyone’s amazement, clinched a deal on Thursday.
Cuts package
“This shows the Netherlands isn’t crippled by political polarisation. When the chips are down, we know where to find each other,” said the finance minister during Thursday evening’s parliamentary debate when the cuts package was voted through.
Geert Wilders, who has stamped his mark on Dutch politics over the last year and a half, has been sidelined. “Brussels rules, Brussels dictates, the Dutch citizen pays, the citizen suffers,” he complained during the debate. He has already said that his election campaign – the country is to go to the polls on 12 September – will centre on attacking Europe.
AAA credit rating
In Brussels, there’s also relief. The idea of the Netherlands, the best behaved boy in the class, failing to make the budget deadline would have been a terrible example for weaker EU countries, such as Spain, Ireland and Greece.
What’s more, the lightning accord provides a clear signal to international credit agency Fitch, which already started questioning the Netherlands’ AAA credit rating earlier this week. The loss of the top credit rating would have meant paying a higher price for balancing the books.
(mw/hs)