International

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang is urging a recall of the legislature in order that Prime Minister Mark Rutte can be quizzed over the apparent addition of €50 billion to the rescue package for Greece. ‘Last Friday, Rutte was talking in terms of 100 billion or so, including the contribution from the banks,’ says Irrgang. ‘Now it turns out that the European taxpayer and the IMF will be paying the whole of that sum, while it is becoming increasingly obvious that many banks have no interest in paying anything towards solving the problems which they themselves caused. I want Rutte to explain how this blunder could occur.”

Last Thursday, prior to the extraordinary meeting of the European Council called to find a way out of the debt crisis, the Dutch national Parliament held talks with Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager. “We made it quite clear that we could not agree with what the government was intending,” explains Irrgang. “The much too high Greek debt would not be addressed, which meant that this rescue package would be helping the banks rather than the Greeks. Now it transpires that the total sum is €50 billion higher than we were told on Friday. €50 billion is almost three times the figure that the government wants to impose in cuts. This can’t be put down to a simple slip.”

The SP wants to see a debate in order to establish complete clarity regarding the total sum involved, the banks’ contribution and how such a great deal of confusion over these matters can have been generated. “First of all the government spoke of confusion, because they had cited a shorter term than had other countries,” says Irrgang. “But Rutte had not added the banks’ contribution to the total sum. Did the Prime Minister know what he had voted for or was he in reality 50 billion off the mark? This lack of clarity must be cleared up, and fast.”