The Netherlands - Dutch PM Balkenende: "Dutch Economy to shrink by 3.5% in 2009

Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende

EU-Digest special report of this morning's Dutch PM press conference on the Dutch economy

This morning in a press conference the Dutch PM Balkenende stated that the Dutch economy had "dramatically" deteriorated based on the latest figures supplied by the Central Planning Bureau (CBP). He noted that the time frame in which this had happened was unbelievably fast. He stated that figures from the CBP showed that the Dutch economy would shrink by 3.5% in 2009 and by .25% in 2010. Estimates also are that the unemployment figure, which at the end of 2008 stood at 3.9%, and was among the lowest in Europe, would increase to 5% by the end of the year and close to 9% in 2010. Consumer spending is still expected to increase by 2.5% in 2009 and remain the same in 2010. Inflation will remain at 1%. Balkenende stressed that finding remedies for the increasing unemployment during this recession period was going to be one of the Governments main objectives. He said , "the government will not walk away from taking painful decisions, because simple and fast solutions do not exist in these situations. There is no free money, everything we are spending belongs to the taxpayer."

Bloomberg.com: SERBIA Dutch to Block Serbia's Bid for EU Trade Pact, Balkenende Says - by Chris Burns and James G. Neuger

Bloomberg.com: Europe

Serbia - Dutch to Block Serbia's Bid for EU Trade Pact, Balkenende Says - by Chris Burns and James G. Neuger

The Netherlands will block Serbia's appeal for a faster route to European Union membership due to the Belgrade government's failure to round up war criminals from the 1990s, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said. Balkenende said the Dutch government will prevent the EU from signing a trade agreement with Serbia on Jan. 28 and dismissed concern that the snub would strengthen an anti-EU candidate in Serbia's presidential election next weekend. ``The essential issue is that a state must not be willing to protect war criminals,'' Balkenende said in a Bloomberg Television interview late yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Most EU governments plan to grant diplomatic recognition to Kosovo after it declares independence in February, and the EU plans to send teams of police and judges to take over the management of the province of 2 million from the UN.

Note EU-Digest: Mr. Balkenende is totally correct in the statement he made. The EU must not embrace countries which protect war criminals.