To Keep Wilders happy Dutch foreign aid could be slashed by one billion euros - will Kathleen Ferrier and Ad Koppejan of the CDA go along with this?

Kathleen Ferrier 

It seems that in order to get Geert Wilders "back on board" during the this week's Rutte Government coalition austerity meetings in the Hague, the PM Mark agreed to Wilders demand to slash the Dutch development aid budget by one billion euros, as one of the items to be cut, to bring the Netherlands budget deficit in-line within EU limits.

But when and if the new budget proposals eventually come before the Dutch Parliament for a vote, Kathleen Ferrier and Ad Koppejan, two CDA parliamentary members who have always been critical of their party's cooperation with Geert Wilders PVV,  could very well hold the key to PM Rutte's survival.

Ad Koppejan

Each year, the Netherlands spends 4.6 billion euros on development aid. The one-billion euro cutback amounts to more than 20 percent of the total budget, reducing the Dutch contribution to less than 0.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. The United Nations norm is 0.7 percent

Even US billionaire Bill Gates tried to influence the talks on the development cooperation budget. He on his own initiative to express his concern and said he feared that if the Dutch cut the aid budget to developing countries other countries will follow.

To ensure the Dutch budget deficit remains under the European norm of 3 percent, the Dutch government would need to cut another 9.6 billion euros on top of their earlier proposed 18 billion euros.

All by all this means that there is little negotiation flexibility for Dutch PM Mark Rutte. Both Geert Wilder's PVV and the Christian Democrats of Maxime Verhagen could at any time torpedo the coalition based on a variety of issues, including dissident opposition within their own parties.