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Netherlands against creation of European Finance Minister

21 June 2017

Netherlands against creation of European Finance Minister

On an initiative from the SP, the Netherlands will be actively resisting the proposal for a European Finance Minister. Both French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have already embrace this proposal. Commenting on this, SP Member of Parliament Renske Leijten said: ‘The European Commission wants to see the eurozone even more tightly under their control and have recently launched plans for a European Minister of Finance and for the EU to have its own budget. If it were up to the Netherlands, we’d call a halt to financial integration right now.’

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Premier Rutte admitted during the debate that he did not believe that a European Finance Minister was desirable, but then refused to actively take a stand in Brussels against the proposal. “That’s Rutte all over,” said Leijten. “On Dutch soil he presents himself as a eurosceptic, but when it comes to it he swallows any and every plan that the European Commission cooks up.” The PM’s own supporters in Parliament, MPs from his centre-right VVD party, nevertheless voted to back the SP resolution, which means that Rutte must follow through in Brussels.

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