BackDutch Liberal and Labour parties agree coalition deal
Labour Party needs support from its members at a conference set for 3 Nov for the deal to be finalized
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The Hague: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberal Party and the Labour Party have agreed a coalition deal, the parties said on Monday, paving the way for a pro-austerity, pro-European government to be sworn in as early as next week.
Rutte won the most seats in the 12 September parliamentary election, which was held against the backdrop of the euro zone crisis, rising unemployment, lower housing prices and a stagnant economy.
The two party leaders have reached a deal far faster than expected, underlying the urgent need to form a government given the European crisis and fragile state of the Dutch economy.
“The (Labour Party) realises how important this is, how important this deal is for the Netherlands. They also understand that it has important points for Labour that we can work with. I have got a mandate to conclude it," Samsom told reporters after he met with fellow Labour MPs.
Labour needs support from its members at a party conference set for 3 November for the deal to be finalized.
The agreement includes plans to cut state spending by a further €16 billion ($21 billion) in the next four years, aiming to all but eliminate the budget deficit by 2017, newspapers reported last week.
In June, government forecaster and think tank CPB projected a deficit of 2.6% of economic output for 2017.
The Netherlands is already implementing a €12-billion austerity programme agreed in April.
It is one of a handful of remaining AAA-rated economies in the euro zone and has been at the forefront of calls for tight fiscal policies across the euro zone to tackle the region’s debt crisis.
Labour member of parliament Jeroen Dijsselbloem is widely expected to succeed Jan Kees de Jager, a Christian Democrat, as finance minister, Dutch newspapers reported last week. Reuters
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