“It’s an overriding obligation for politicians to honour agreements made.” Those were the words of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, about five months ago. Rutte and his finance minister Jan Kees de Jager have been lecturing the other EU Member States for the past year and a half about the need for fiscal discipline. No wonder Europe is responding with some glee to the political crisis in the Netherlands.

by Tijn Sadée and Marina Brouwer

An iron budget discipline, a “super-commissioner” who controls the national books, a penalty for defaulters. Rutte and De Jager suggested all sorts of measures to force EU member countries to get thei budgets in order.

But now it’s very doubtful that the Netherlands itself can still meet the Brussels requirement that the deficit in 2013 may rise no more than 3 percent. Late last week the seven-week-long deliberations behind closed doors about a super savings package failed. It’s still questionable whether the Rutte government – now a caretaker government until the election later this year – can count on a majority in the House to get new proposed cuts through parliament.

Insults will be remembered
Rutte and De Jager were always businesslike during a series of European meetings on budget issues within the EU. But in the background there was Geert Wilders, the strong man of the Freedom Party (PVV) who held the Rutte government in the saddle while speaking of  ‘those lazy Greeks’ and’ ‘garlic-eating wastrels’. Those insults are well remembered in Europe. It is therefore not surprising that they’re now gloating in response to the situation in the Netherlands.

The situation is quite dramatic. By 30 April, the European Commission wants to receive hard figures from all 27 EU member countries, explaining how they will meet the agreed fiscal standards in next year’s budget. It will be impossible for Rutte and De Jager to produce a convincing report to send to Brussels in just eight days.

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RNW