Dutch PM Resigns over Failed Austerity Talks

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte seen during a press conference in The Hague, 21 April 2012. EPA/BGNES

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is to offer his resignation to the queen after his coalition fell apart, it has been announced.

The coalition of the conservative VVD and the Christian Democrats had been negotiating for nearly two months with Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom Party on extra cutbacks worth billions of EUR.

The talks had reached a final stage, with discussions centring on figures from the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis outlining whether the cutbacks agreed by the parties would achieve the three percent budget deficit target for 2013 - and what effect they would have on the Dutch economy.

The PVV party of Geert Wilders supports Prime Minister Mark Rutte's minority government, voting with Rutte on key issues to give it a one-seat majority in the 150-seat parliament. The party is the third largest with 24 members.

Some Bulgarian and Romanian politicians have blamed their country's failure to join the Schengen Agreement on the Dutch cabinet's dependence on PVV. The Netherlands is currently the only EU member state blocking the two Balkan countries' Schengen bids.

Early elections will probably take place in September.

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