International

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.