EU urges Dutch to cut debt

BRUSSELS - Agence France-Presse

Altafaj reminds the Netherlands that it has an agreed debt target.

EU budget watchdogs urged the Netherlands yesterday to apply the same hardline rigour to its own deteriorating public finances that it demanded in drawn-out negotiations over a second bailout for Greece.

The Dutch government announced yesterday that its “provisional” public deficit for 2012 would rise from the previously expected 4.1 percent of output to 4.5 percent of GDP.

The country’s central planning bureau said the deficit would fall to 4.1 percent in 2014 and 3.3 percent in 2015 unless there was a change in government strategy.

“We think that the Netherlands is one country that has been very vocal when supporting the reinforcmeent of our fiscal surveillance rules,” said European Commission economy spokesman Amadeu Altafaj.
“So it’s absolutely normal to believe that the Netherlands will apply this same approach to its own fiscal policies.”