A hush has descended on a handsome 17th century villa in The Hague where the leaders of the Netherlands' rightwing minority government are huddled over spending ledgers, debt projections, budget balances, housing market analyses and deteriorating pension fund figures. Rutte launched the three-week retreat for the top members of his government at his residence last week after shock budget projections from the CPB Bureau for Economic Analysis, the old and authoritative thinktank which crunches the finance ministry's numbers.
The prime minister and leader of the liberal-conservative VVD party, has imposed a vow of omerta on his colleagues locked away in his official residence until they chart a path out of a worsening public finances debacle.
Europe's two-year debt and deficit crisis has pitted preachy northern creditors against "feckless" Mediterranean spendthrifts – countries the Dutch are wont to dub the "garlic belt".
But suddenly the air in Brussels and elsewhere is thick with tales of pots and kettles, glass houses and stonethrowing as the triple-A rated Netherlands comes unstuck.
For more: Dutch government in lockdown as AAA-rated country comes unstuck | Business | The Guardian
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