The Dutch caretaker government and three opposition parties announced today Thursday that they managed to strike a provisional 2013 austerity budget deal.
Prospects for a successful deal to reduce the deficit by an April 30 deadline seemed unlikely given the timing of Wilders' walkout and the fact that few political parties appeared willing to take responsibility for a round of politically unpopular cuts ahead of a general election in September.
However, all five parties involved in the talks managed to agree on a package today. Measures include pay freezes and housing market reforms, but most details have not yet been released.
Rutte and his free-market VVD party remain partners in the caretaker
government with De Jager's Christian Democrats. The other three parties
who negotiated the deal had opposed Rutte's administration, mainly
because of the anti-immigration and anti-Islam policies of Wilders'
party. Alexander Pechtold, the leader of the small centrist D-66 party, said
the swift agreement was evidence Rutte had been wrong to co-operate with
Wilders in the first place.
The agreement will now be vetted by government economists and the parliament, but it is still seen as a remarkable political achievement.
EU-Digest
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